JtNIOMHILD 


MARY  THEODORA  WHITLEY 


LB  111  5  “.W4 7  1923 

Whitley,  Mary  Theodora,  1872 

A  study  of  the  junior  child, 
for  iunior  teachers 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2019  with  funding  from 
Princeton  Theological  Seminary  Library 


https://archive.org/details/studyofjuniorchiOOwhit 


A  STUDY  OF  THE 
JUNIOR  CHILD 


A  Textbook  in  the  Standard  Course  in  Teacher  Train¬ 
ing,  Outlined  and  Approved  by  the  International 
Sunday  School  Council  of  Religious  Education 

THIRD  YEAR  SPECIALIZATION  SERIES 


Printed  for 

THE  TEACHER  TRAINING  PUBLISHING 
ASSOCIATION 

by 

THE  WESTMINSTER  PRESS 
PHILADELPHIA 


Copyright,  1923,  by 
MARY  THEODORA  WHITLEY 


Printed  in  the  United  States  of  America 


CONTENTS 


Page 

Editor’s  Introduction  .  5 

Chapter 

I.  The  Junior  as  Revealed  in  the  Play  Group  .  11 

II.  The  Junior  as  Revealed  at  Home .  26 

III.  The  Junior  as  Revealed  in  Day  School  .  41 

IV.  The  Changing  Body  and  Standards  of  Strength  . .  58 

V.  The  Junior  in  the  World  of  Reading .  69 

VI.  New  Capacity  for  Decision  .  82 

VII.  The  Nature  and  Value  of  Memory  .  96 

VIII.  Hero  Worship  . 110 

IX.  Individuality  . 124 

X.  The  Religious  Life  . 138 

Bibliography  . 154 


Sunday  School  Council  Standard  Course  in 

Teacher  Training 

Third  Year — Specialization 

Third  Year  Specialization  Courses  in  Teacher  Training  Con¬ 
forming  to  the  Standard  and  Outlines  approved  by  the  Inter¬ 
national  Sunday  School  Council. 

For  Teachers  of  Beginners 
A  Study  of  the  Little  Child,  Mary  T.  Whitley. 
*Story-Telling  for  Teachers  of  Beginners  and  Primary  Chil¬ 
dren,  Katherine  D.  Cather. 

Methods  with  Beginners,  Frances  W.  Danielson 

For  Teachers  of  Primary  Children 
A  Study  of  the  Primary  Child,  Mary  T.  Whitley. 

*  Story-Telling  for  Teachers  of  Beginners  and  Primary  Chil¬ 
dren,  Katherine  D.  Cather. 

Methods  for  Primary  Teachers,  Hazel  Lewis. 

For  Teachers  of  Juniors 

Junior  Department  Organization  and  Administration,  Ida 
M.  Koontz. 

A  Study  of  the  Junior  Child,  Mary  T.  Whitley. 

Junior  Teaching  Materials  and  Method,  Roger  Albright. 
Other  units  in  preparation. 

For  Teachers  of  Adolescents  (Intermediates,  Seniors,  and 
Young  People) 

Psychology  of  Early  Adolescence,  E.  Leigh  Mudge. 
Community  Forces  for  Religious  Education  (Early  Adoles¬ 
cence),  G.  Walter  Fiske. 

Organization  and  Administration  of  the  Intermediate  De¬ 
partment,  Hugh  H.  Harris. 

Community  Forces  for  Religious  Education  (Middle  Adoles¬ 
cence),  G.  Walter  Fiske. 

Other  units  in  preparation. 

For  Teachers  of  Adults 

A  Study  of  Adult  Life,  Theodore  G.  Soares. 

Principles  of  Christian  Service,  Henry  F.  Cope. 

Other  units  in  preparation. 

For  Administrative  Officers 

The  Educational  Task  of  the  Local  Church,  W.  C.  Bower. 
Other  units  in  preparation. 


*  Identical. 


4 


EDITOR’S  INTRODUCTION 


SPECIALIZATION  COURSES  IN  TEACHER 

TRAINING 

In  religious  education,  as  in  other  fields  of  construc¬ 
tive  endeavor,  specialized  training  is  to-day  a  badge 
of  fitness  for  service.  Effective  leadership  presup¬ 
poses  special  training.  For  teachers  and  administrative 
officers  in  the  church  school  a  thorough  preparation 
and  proper  personal  equipment  have  become  indis¬ 
pensable  by  reason  of  the  rapid  development  of  the 
Sunday-school  curriculum  which  has  resulted  in  the 
widespread  introduction  and  use  of  graded  courses,  in 
the  rapid  extension  of  departmental  organization,  and 
in  greatly  improved  methods  of  teaching. 

Present-day  standards  and  courses  in  teacher  train¬ 
ing  give  evidence  of  a  determination  on  the  part  of  the 
religious-educational  forces  of  North  America  to  pro¬ 
vide  an  adequate  training  literature,  that  is,  properly 
graded  and  sufficiently  thorough  courses  and  text¬ 
books  to  meet  the  growing  need  for  specialized  train¬ 
ing  in  this  field.  Popular  as  well  as  professional  interest 
in  the  matter  is  reflected  in  the  constantly  increasing 
number  of  training  institutes,  community  and  summer 
training  schools,  and  college  chairs  and  departments  of 
religious  education.  Hundreds  of  thousands  of  young 
people  and  adults,  distributed  among  all  the  Protestant 

5 


6 


Introductory 


Evangelical  churches  and  throughout  every  state  and 
province,  are  engaged  in  serious  study,  in  many  cases 
including  supervised  practice  teaching,  with  a  view  to 
preparing  for  service  as  leaders  and  teachers  of  religion 
or  of  increasing  their  efficiency  in  the  work  in  which 
they  are  already  engaged. 

Most  of  these  students  and  student  teachers  are  pur¬ 
suing  some  portion  of  the  Standard  Course  of  Teacher 
Training  prepared  in  outline  by  the  International  Sun¬ 
day  School  Council  for  all  the  Protestant  churches  in 
the  United  States  and  Canada.  This  course  calls  for 
a  minimum  of  one  hundred  and  twenty  lesson  periods 
including  in  fair  educational  proportion  the  following 
subjects : 

(a)  A  survey  of  Bible  material,  with  special  ref¬ 
erence  to  the  teaching  values  of  the  Bible  as 
meeting  the  needs  of  the  pupil  in  successive 
periods  of  his  development. 

( b )  A  study  of  the  pupil  in  the  varied  stages  of  his 
growing  life. 

( c )  The  work  and  methods  of  the  teacher. 

( d )  The  Sunday  school  and  its  organization  and 
management. 

The  course  is  intended  to  cover  three  years  with  a 
minimum  of  forty  lesson  periods  for  each  year. 

Following  two  years  of  more  general  study,  provision 
for  specialization  is  made  in  the  third  year,  with 
separate  studies  for  administrative  officers,  and  for 
teachers  of  each  of  the  following*  age  groups :  Begin¬ 
ners  (under  6)  ;  Primary  (6-8)  ;  Junior  (9-11)  ;  Inter¬ 
mediate  (12-14)  ;  Senior  (15-17)  ;  Young  People  (18- 


Introductory 


7 


24)  ;  and  Adult  (over  24).  Ageneral  course  on 
Adolescence  covering  more  briefly  the  whole  period 
(13-24)  is  also  provided.  Thus  the  Third  Year 
Specialization,  of  which  this  textbook  is  one  unit,  pro¬ 
vides  for  nine  separate  courses  of  forty  lesson  periods 
each. 

Which  of  these  nine  courses  is  to  be  pursued  by  any 
student  or  group  of  students  will  be  determined  by  the 
particular  place  each  expects  to  fill  as  teacher,  super¬ 
visor,  or  administrative  officer  in  the  church  school. 
Teachers  of  Juniors  will  study  the  four  units  devoted 
to  the  Junior  Department.  Teachers  of  young  peo¬ 
ple’s  classes  will  choose  between  the  general  course  on 
Adolescence  and  the  course  on  Later  Adolescence. 
Superintendents  and  general  officers  in  the  school  will 
study  the  four  administrative  units.  Many  will  pur¬ 
sue  several  courses  in  successive  years,  thus  adding  to 
their  specialized  equipment  each  year.  On  page  four 
will  be  found  a  list  of  the  Specialization  Courses  avail¬ 
able  at  the  time  of  publication  of  this  volume. 

A  program  of  intensive  training  as  complete  as  that 
outlined  by  the  Sunday  School  Council  necessarily 
involves  the  preparation  and  publication  of  an  equally 
complete  series  of  textbooks  covering  no  less  than 
thirty-six  separate  units.  Comparatively  few  of  the 
denominations  represented  in  the  Sunday  School  Coun¬ 
cil  are  able  independently  to  undertake  so  large  a  pro¬ 
gram  of  textbook  production.  It  was  natural,  therefore, 
that  the  denominations  which  together  had  determined 
the  general  outlines  of  the  Standard  Course  should 
likewise  cooperate  in  the  production  of  the  required 


8 


Introductory 


textbooks.  Such  cooperation,  moreover,  was  necessary 
in  order  to  command  the  best  available  talent  for  this 
important  task,  and  in  order  to  insure  the  success  of 
the  total  enterprise.  Thus  it  came  about  that  the  de¬ 
nominations  represented  in  the  Sunday  School  Council, 
with  a  few  exceptions,  united  in  the  syndicate  produc¬ 
tion  of  the  entire  series  of  Specialization  units  for  the 
Third  Year. 

A  little  more  than  two  years  have  been  required  for 
the  selection  of  writers,  for  the  careful  advance  coordi¬ 
nation  of  their  several  tasks,  and  for  the  actual  pro¬ 
duction  of  the  first  textbooks.  A  substantial  number 
of  these  are  now  available.  They  will  be  followed  in 
rapid  succession  by  others  until  the  entire  series  for 
each  of  the  nine  courses  is  completed. 

The  preparation  of  these  textbooks  has  proceeded 
under  the  supervision  of  an  Editorial  Committee  repre¬ 
senting  all  the  cooperating  denominations.  The  pub¬ 
lishing  arrangements  have  been  made  by  a  similar  com¬ 
mittee  of  denominational  publishers  likewise  represent¬ 
ing  all  the  cooperating  churches.  Together  the  editors, 
educational  secretaries,  and  publishers  have  organized 
themselves  into  a  voluntary  association  for  the  carrying 
out  of  this  particular  task,  under  the  name  Teacher 
Training  Publishing  Association.  The  actual  publica¬ 
tion  of  the  separate  textbook  units  is  done  by  the  vari¬ 
ous  denominational  Publishing  Houses  in  accordance 
with  assignments  made  by  the  Publishers’  Committee 
of  the  Association.  The  enterprise  as  a  whole  repre¬ 
sents  one  of  the  largest  and  most  significant  ventures 
which  has  thus  far  been  undertaken  in  the  field  of 


Introductory 


9 


interdenominational  cooperation  in  religious  education. 
The  textbooks  included  in  this  series,  while  intended 
primarily  for  teacher-training  classes  in  local  churches 
and  Sunday  schools,  are  admirably  suited  for  use  in 
interdenominational  and  community  classes  and  train¬ 
ing  schools. 

This  volume,  A  Study  of  the  Junior  Child,  intended 
for  Junior  teachers,  is  one  of  four  units  designed  for 
teachers  of  children  nine  to  twelve  years  of  age.  Dr. 
Whitley’s  name  is  a  sufficient  guarantee  of  the  ac¬ 
curacy  of  its  psychology.  But  the  great  value  of  this 
work  lies  in  the  fact  that,  while  it  gives  a  most  scholarly 
presentation  of  the  Junior  child  as  he  is,  it  does  so  with 
a  charming  simplicity  of  style  and  in  language  unen¬ 
cumbered  by  technicalities.  As  a  textbook  this  work 
cannot  fail  to  interest  as  well  as  render  valuable  service 
to  all  who  are  dealing  with  the  boys  and  girls  in  this 
important  and  strategic  period  of  life. 

For  The  Teacher  Training  Publishing  Association, 

HENRY  H.  MEYER, 
Chairman  Editorial  Committee. 

For  The  Westminster  Press, 

JOHN  T.  FARIS, 

Editor. 


CHAPTER  I 


THE  JUNIOR  AS  REVEALED  IN  THE  PLAY 

GROUP 

You  are  teaching,  or  preparing  to  teach,  in  the 
Junior  Department  of  the  Sunday  school.  Some  super¬ 
intendents  regularly  plan  to  start  new  teachers  there 
with  the  classes  just  promoted  from  the  Primary  De¬ 
partment,  thinking  that  children  of  that  age  are  prob¬ 
ably  the  easiest  for  beginners  on  the  staff  to  handle. 
Sometimes  young  teachers  feel  hesitant  about  tack¬ 
ling  classes  of  older  boys  and  girls,  thinking  that  they 
need  further  preparation  themselves  in  the  subject 
matter  of  what  they  are  to  teach,  but  feeling  quite  will¬ 
ing  to  try  the  fourth  or  fifth  grade,  since  they  are  more 
familiar  with  the  less  extensive  curriculum  usually 
found  there.  Here  they  are  guilty  of  failing  to  recog¬ 
nize  that  there  is  another  problem  in  the  art  of  teach¬ 
ing  than  simply  knowing  the  things  to  be  taught, 
namely,  knowing  the  children  who  are  to  be  taught,  and 
the  best  methods  of  helping  them  develop  into  Chris¬ 
tian  citizens. 

This  book  is  meant  to  point  out  to  you  certain  char¬ 
acteristics  of  boys  and  girls  from  nine  to  twelve  years 
of  age,  so  that  you  may  be  better  able  to  bring  to  them 
the  inspiration  and  the  training  that  they  need  in  this 
period  of  their  growth.  We  are  going  to  study  chil¬ 
dren  of  Junior  age  by  noting  how  they  act  and  observ- 

11 


12  A  Study  of  the  Junior  Child 

ing  what  they  like  to  do.  We  must  follow  them  as 
they  show  themselves  in  action  at  home,  at  school,  and 
at  play.  Then  we  will  consider  certain  traits  which 
are  specially  significant  in  view  of  our  interest  in  re¬ 
ligious  education. 

If  you  think  back  to  when  you  were  a  child  and  re¬ 
call  your  companions  at  that  time,  do  you  feel  you 
came  to  know  them  better  by  what  you  saw  of  them  in 
the  schoolroom  or  by  what  you  found  out  as  you  played 
with  them?  And  how  is  it  with  children  you  wish  to 
know  now ;  would  you  understand  them  as  individuals 
better  if  you  watched  them  at  school  or  at  play?  Since 
most  people  feel  that  the  greatest  revelation  of  charac¬ 
ter  comes  during  the  spontaneous  play  activities  we 
will  observe  them  first  in  these. 

Observation. — Plan  to  spend  several  different 
half  hours  watching  children  of  Junior  age  at  free 
play ;  in  the  play  ground,  in  somebody’s  back  yard,  on 
vacant  lots,  on  the  streets,  indoors  as  well,  if  you  can, 
but  anywhere  will  do.  Look  for  any  differences  in 
the  kinds  of  play  chosen  most  often  by  boys  and  girls ; 
or  do  they  play  exactly  the  same  sort  of  things  ?  Do 
they  play  together  most  of  the  time  or  only  occasion¬ 
ally?  You  will  probably  see  more  groups  of  boys 
together  and  girls  together  than  mixed  groups  of  boys 
and  girls ;  for  at  about  ten  or  eleven  years  of  age,  if 
not  before,  there  seems  to  be  a  decided  sex  antagonism, 
so  that  they  prefer  the  company  of  their  own  kind. 
On  the  whole  boys  are  playing  more  active  and  rougher 
games  continually  than  the  girls  are,  in  spite  of  the 
tomboy  tendencies  many  girls  exhibit.  But  don’t  take 


The  Junior  as  Revealed  in  the  Play  Group  13 

these  statements  for  granted.  Count  the  groups  you 
see  in  each  half  hour  as  you  walk  slowly  through  the 
streets,  and  write  down  of  how  many  children  the 
groups  are  constituted,  whether  they  are  mixed  or  of 
one  sex  only,  and  try  also  to  describe  just  what  the 
occupation  is.  Of  course  the  time  of  year  will  make 
some  difference.  You  remember  that  just  as  football 
has  its  season,  so  also  have  tops,  skipping  ropes,  bon¬ 
fires,  to  say  nothing  of  the  special  activities  suggested 
by  the  climate  itself,  such  as  snowballing,  or  wading  in 
the  gutter. 

Next,  note  whether  the  play  involves  much  muscu¬ 
lar  activity  or  not.  Would  you  describe  it  as  violently 
active,  moderately  so,  or  quiet?  Chasing  games  we 
would  call  active,  constructive  work  such  as  carpenter¬ 
ing  would  be  moderate,  sitting  down  games  would  be 
classed  as  quiet.  If  your  observations  are  made  out  of 
doors  in  the  winter  season  you  may  not  see  any  quiet 
games ;  but  do  not  let  the  limiting  conditions  of  your 
particular  opportunity  lead  you  to  generalize  rashly 
about  play  interests  in  the  Junior  age.  Supplement 
your  work  by  comparing  notes  with  others,  by  recall¬ 
ing  your  own  childhood,  and  by  consulting  some  au¬ 
thorities  such  as  those  suggested  in  the  bibliography 
given  at  the  end  of  this  book. 

After  noting  the  physical  characteristics  of  the  play 
activities  try  to  analyze  them  from  the  point  of  view  of 
the  chief  attraction  on  the  intellectual  side.  For  in¬ 
stance,  how  many  times  did  you  see  ( 1 )  a  very  definite 
effort  to  gain  skill?  That  is  a  prominent  feature  of 
hopscotch,  jackstones,  and  the  like.  (2)  Is  there  a  repe- 


14 


A  Study  of  the  Junior  Child 


tition  of  the  activity  for  the  pure  joy  of  the  sensations 
involved,  as  in  swinging,  coasting?  When  you  see 
children  doing  the  same  thing  over  and  over 
watch  carefully  to  see  if  you  can  tell  for  which  of 
these  two  reasons  there  is  so  much  repetition;  is  it  to 
practice  a  “stunt,”  or  is  it  to  feel  the  joy  of  the  mo¬ 
tion?  (3)  List  all  the  times  that  the  interest  seems 
to  be  principally  in  the  aesthetic  pleasure  afforded — for 
example,  you  may  see  careful  arrangements  of  colored 
leaves,  embroidery  work,  in  fact  all  sorts  of  creative 
work  involving  decoration.  Distinguish  this  from  (4) 
the  construction  in  which  little  heed  is  paid  to  the 
looks  of  the  thing  when  finished,  but  in  which  the  in¬ 
terest  is  in  the  mechanics  required,  in  the  act  of  mak¬ 
ing  something,  or  in  the  further  use  to  which  the 
object  made  can  be  put.  Where,  among  these  four 
groups  would  you  class  jumping  rope,  playing  a  mouth 
organ,  whittling,  building  a  playhouse  out  of  waste 
lumber,  doll's  dressmaking?  (5)  Notice  any  plays 
that  bring  in  the  dramatic  imagination.  What  is  the 
source  of  the  things  children  act  out  is  it  everyday  life 
around  them,  or  books  they  may  have  read,  the  more 
unusual  scenes  of  the  circus  or  what?  Are  they  the  tra¬ 
ditional  games  such  as  fox  and  geese,  with  very  little 
original  imagination  left  in?  (6)  How  often  did  you  see 
rivalry  and  competition  as  a  marked  feature  of  the 
game?  (7)  Was  there  any  play  that  showed  the  love 
of  puzzles?  Guessing  games,  language  games  with 
pencil  and  paper,  board  games  such  as  checkers,  many 
card  games  are  good  examples  of  this  “solve  a  prob¬ 
lem”  interest.  We  might  analyze  still  more  of  these 


The  Junior  as  Revealed  in  the  Play  Group  15 

intellectual  features,  but  these  seven  are  the  most  signi¬ 
ficant.  Let  us  review  them :  interest  in  gaining  skill, 
sensory  enjoyment,  aesthetic  pleasure,  constructive  in¬ 
terest,  dramatic  imagination,  competition,  problem¬ 
solving.  We  will  symbolize  these  by  Sk.,  S.,  A.,  Con., 
D.,  Cp.,  P.,  respectively.  Many  plays  will  give  pleas¬ 
ure  through  two  or  three  of  these  factors  at  the  same 
time ;  thus,  we  might  characterize  building  a  snow  fort 
by  the  symbols  Con.,  D.,  and  Cp. 

Having  observed  the  physical  and  the  mental  sides 
of  play  let  us  turn  now  to  the  analysis  of  the  social  or¬ 
ganization.  Here  we  may  distinguish  five  types. 
First,  individualistic  play,  where  a  child  plays  by  him¬ 
self.  Second,  the  undefined  group,  where  any  con¬ 
venient  number  may  join  and  all  do  nearly  the  same 
thing  at  the  same  time ;  for  example,  in  “going  to 
Jerusalem,”  “cross  tag,”  and  much  doll  play.  Third, 
the  double  group  where  two  undefined  groups  com¬ 
pete  as  in  “tug  of  war,”  “prisoners’  base.”  Fourth,  the 
pair  or  double  pair,  exemplified  in  tennis  or  checkers. 
Fifth  and  last,  the  organized  team  game,  where  two 
sides  compete  as  in  type  three,  but  now  the  numbers 
on  each  side  are  limited  by  rule,  and  each  member  of 
the  team  has  a  specialized  task,  even  a  special  name  by 
which  he  is  known.  Of  course  hockey  and  baseball  are 
good  examples  of  this,  and  you  can  easily  think  of 
others.  Be  sure  you  get  these  five  social  organizations 
clearly  in  mind.  To  which  does  “drop  the  handker¬ 
chief”  belong?  Hide-and-seek?  Basket  ball?  Play¬ 
ing  circus?  Top-spinning?  Jackstones?  Be  careful 
when  you  see  eight  or  ten  boys  with  bats  and  balls,  that 


16  A  Study  of  the  Junior  Child 

you  watch  their  play  long  enough  to  decide  whether  it 
is  really  a  game  of  type  five  they  are  playing,  or  a  sim¬ 
pler  sort  of  ball  game  with  little  or  no  team  work,  any 
number  on  a  side  and  a  few  rules,  relegating  their 
social  organization  really  to  type  three. 

To  sum  up.  You  are  asked  to  observe  children  of 
nine  to  twelve  playing,  during  several  different  half 
hours,  and  to  note  carefully  the  following :  A.  The  size 
and  sex  of  the  group.  B.  The  approximate  age  within 
the  limits  given.  C.  The  physical  features.  D.  The 
intellectual  features.  E.  The  social  organization.  The 
results  of  your  observation  can  be  conveniently  ar¬ 
ranged  in  tabular  form  in  six  columns.  Let  b  5  in 
column  A  mean  that  the  group  consisted  of  five  boys, 
whereas,  g  4  b  1  would  mean  a  group  of  four  girls  and 
one  boy.  Let  A.  M.  and  O  stand  for  active,  moderate 
and  quiet  respectively  in  column  C.  Use  the  symbols 
suggested  above  for  the  various  intellectual  features  in 
column  D.  Let  1,  2,  3,  4,  5  stand  for  the  type  to 
which  you  assign  the  social  organization,  in  column  E. 

A  sample  record  may  look  like  this  then : 


Activity  ABC  D  E 

Described  Size,  Sex  Age  Physical  Intellectual  Social 

Dam  in  a  gutter;  wad¬ 
ing;  sailing  boats. ...  g  3  b  4  9-12  M  S.  Con.  D.  Cp.  2 

Baseball .  b  7  10-11  A  Sk.  Cp,  3 

Doll  dressmaking .  g  5  9-10  Q  Sk.  A.  2 

Roller  skating .  g  1  10  M  Sk.  S.  1 


Can  you  follow  all  these  letters  and  figures,  and  in¬ 
terpret?  Observe  long  enough  to  get  a  list  of  thirty 
or  more  activities  if  possible,  and  tabulate  your  find- 


The  Junior  as  Revealed  in  the  Play  Group  17 

ings  in  the  way  demonstrated  here.  Compare  your  re¬ 
sults  with  those  of  the  other  members  of  the  class,  and 
then  see  if  you  can  decide  on  an  answer  to  these 
queries.  (1)  Is  rivalry  or  competition  a  marked  fea¬ 
ture  or  not?  Kirkpatrick  has  called  this  age  part  of 
the  competitive  socialization  period ;  if  that  is  a  good 
term  we  should  expect  to  find  a  great  deal  of  competi¬ 
tion  in  the  free  play  life.  (2)  Do  the  games  have  many 
rules?  (3)  How  often  is  there  a  definite  problem  in¬ 
terest  beyond  that  of  gaining  physical  skill?  (4)  Do 
children  under  twelve  play  team  games,  of  type  five, 
spontaneously?  Do  girls?  Is  there  cheerful  obedience 
to  a  captain  with  cooperation  towards  a  definitely 
planned  goal  ? 

General  characteristics  peculiar  to  this  age  period. 

— Now  that  you  have  worked  over  these  suggestions 
for  a  while  we  will  gather  up  what  other  investigators 
have  noticed  as  to  the  play  interests  of  this  period. 

From  ten  to  eleven  years  old  is  apparently  the  time 
when  the  greatest  variety  of  games  and  amusements  is 
enjoyed.  This  is  probably  because  children  still  like 
many  sorts  of  games  they  played  when  smaller,  and  also 
are  beginning  to  appreciate  the  kind  that  older  boys 
and  girls  play.  It  is  also  a  time  when  many  traditional 
games  are  in  favor ;  in  fact,  very  few  new  games  are 
invented,  whereas  the  imitative  tendency  is  sufficiently 
strong  for  them  to  pick  up  from  one  another  all  the 
many  plays  current,  and  thus  to  come  into  their  in¬ 
heritance  of  folk  ways  of  which  there  is  so  vast  an 
accumulation  through  the  ages.  There  is  a  decreasing 
interest  in  make-believe  plays  and  an  increasing  interest 


18  A  Study  of  the  Junior  Child 

in  games  of  chance,  or  chance  and  skill  both.  Games 
involving  mere  chasing  decline  in  favor,  but  games 
with  balls  rise  rapidly  in  value.  Rivalry,  competition 
or  contest  enter  into  almost  everything  they  do  in 
groups.  This  element  of  personal  rivalry  is  so  much 
stronger,  in  fact,  than  the  team  spirit,  that  many  a  so- 
called  group  game  proceeds  but  lamely  on  its  way  be¬ 
cause  of  the  frequent  altercations  that  develop.  Indi¬ 
vidual  interests  predominate  over  the  idea  of  coopera¬ 
tion  which  calls  for  self-sacrifice  for  the  good  of  the 
group.  Each  player  wants  to  star,  even  if  loyalty  to 
his  own  gang  or  side  makes  him  desirous  of  seeing  it 
beat  the  other  side. 

Physical  activity. — About  two  thirds  of  all  their 
games  involve  considerable  bodily  movement.  Run¬ 
ning  and  ball  games  are  not  the  only  ways  of  indulging 
in  violent  physical  exercise ;  it  is  decidedly  the  age  of 
stunts,  when  children  will  practice  faithfully  at  some 
activity  to  attain  speed  or  accuracy.  Shouting  is  so  fre¬ 
quent  an  accompaniment  of  play  that  many  adults 
think  of  play  and  noise  as  almost  synonymous  terms. 
At  the  same  time,  quiet  employments,  such  as  board 
games,  table  games,  card  games  are  more  and  more 
appreciated  as  they  are  better  understood,  while  quiet 
puzzle  games  involving  language-guessing  are  much 
enjoyed  in  the  latter  part  of  this  age  period.  We  must 
not  omit  mention  of  the  very  prevalent  habit  of  at¬ 
tendance  at  the  moving-picture  theater,  with  its  rela¬ 
tively  slight  use  of  the  larger  muscles. 

Language  interest. — Conundrums,  puns,  word¬ 
building,  “how-when-and-where,”  “telegrams,”  and 


The  Junior  as  Revealed  in  the  Play  Group  19 

many  other  similar  plays  help  develop  the  quickly  grow¬ 
ing  appreciation  of  language.  Generally,  too,  we  find 
that  some  sort  of  secret  language  is  invented  by  eleven 
or  twelve  years.  In  oral  form  this  may  be  of  the  dog 
Latin  variety,  i.  e.,  some  modification  of  the  mother 
tongue  made  by  adding  syllables  to  ordinary  words, 
changing  the  sequence  of  syllables  or  letters,  pro¬ 
nouncing  them  backwards  or  whatever  variation  their 
ingenuity  may  suggest.  Thus  used,  it  serves  to  myst¬ 
ify  the  younger  children  and  keep  all  but  the  members 
of  the  secret  society  from  knowledge  of  what  is  being 
said.  Akin  to  this  is  the  love  of  passwords,  mystic  sig¬ 
nals,  finger-talking,  and  the  like.  More  rarely  there  is 
a  written  form  invented.  This  usually  takes  the  form 
of  a  letter  code  into  which  the  mother  tongue  vocabu¬ 
lary  is  transliterated.  Again  the  purpose  is  to  effect 
private  communication. 

Collecting. — Another  dominant  interest  is  that  of 
collecting.  One  investigator  found  that  at  ten  years 
old  any  child  may  be  collecting  four  or  five  different 
sorts  of  things  at  once,  also  that  over  90  per  cent  of 
children  collect  something  or  other.  Cigar  tags,  small 
pictures,  buttons,  bits  of  metal,  smooth  pebbles,  colored 
glass,  shells,  birds’  eggs,  advertisements,  marbles,  sea¬ 
weed,  stamps,  paper  dolls — all  these  and  many  more 
prove  attractive  objects  to  children  at  this  time.  Very 
seldom  is  there  any  serious  attempt  to  classify  the 
hoard.  When  there  is  any  arrangement  it  is  on  some 
crude  basis  of  size,  or  color,  with  little  real  insight  into 
the  nature  study  material  that  may  have  been  amassed. 
However,  the  size  of  the  collection  itself  seems  a  very 


20 


A  Study  of  the  Junior  Child 


important  matter,  stimulating  much  rivalry  and  not  a 
little  sharp  bargaining.  On  the  whole,  the  interest 
in  marbles  is  dying  out,  that  in  stamps  is  only  begin¬ 
ning  by  eleven  years  old.  Boys  are  more  apt  than  girls 
to  collect  parts  of  animals — claws,  teeth,  tails,  etc.,  even 
small  living  things  themselves,  while  they  leave  to  girls 
the  acquisition  of  stray  pieces  of  silk,  velvet,  ribbon, 
cloth,  paper  patterns,  paper  dolls,  perfume  samples,  and 
so  on.  Girls  more  often  depend  upon  finding,  buying, 
or  having  their  treasures  given  them ;  boys,  more 
aggressively,  go  on  the  hunt  for  them  and  barter  fiercely 
with  each  other. 

Sex  differences. — Among  other  ways  in  which 
boys  and  girls  differ  we  note  that  girls  are  rather  more 
sensitive  than  boys  to  aesthetic  arrangement  of  mate¬ 
rial,  and  to  the  beauty  of  rhythmic  movement.  They 
are  considerably  less  interested  in  the  mechanics  of 
things,  so  that  their  constructive  work  runs  less  to  ex¬ 
perimenting  with  building  materials,  electrical  ap¬ 
paratus,  or  carpenter's  tools,  such  as  boys  prefer,  and 
more  to  the  use  of  textiles,  pottery,  paintbrushes,  and 
so  forth.  They  play  with  dolls  up  to  eleven  or  twelve, 
not  as  the  little  girl  of  four  or  five  plays,  but  in  more 
complex  ways,  such  as  giving  a  play  in  which  the  dolls 
are  actors,  planning  and  making  extensive  wardrobes 
for  various  characters  in  a  community  life,  carrying  out 
a  sort  of  serial  story  from  day  to  day  with  the  dolls  as 
participants.  Often  there  are  large  collections  of 
paper  dolls  which  replace  the  more  realistic  playthings. 

On  the  whole,  girls  like  running  games  and  ball 
games  less  than  boys  do,  and  are  earlier  interested  in 


The  Junior  as  Revealed  in  the  Play  Group  21 

games  of  chance.  They  play  indoors  more  than  their 
brothers,  and  so  are  apt  to  be  more  quiet  and  less 
affected  in  their  occupations  by  change  of  season.  They 
are  less  likely,  when  they  quarrel,  to  engage  in  the  vio¬ 
lent  rough-and-tumble  fight  which  the  more  pugnacious 
boys  find  so  necessary  to  determine  supremacy.  We 
should  be  surprised,  too,  to  see  a  swarm  of  girls  en¬ 
gaging  in  a  pitched  street  battle  with  a  rival  swarm ; 
but  we  look  upon  such  affrays  among  boys  with  uncon¬ 
cern,  finding  them  a  perfectly  natural  occurrence.  In 
a  later  chapter  we  shall  have  more  to  say  about  the 
gangs  boys  form,  about  chumming  and  friendships,  only 
remarking  here  that  a  great  deal  of  the  activity  of  boys 
over  ten  is  determined  by  the  interests  of  that  gang  to 
which  almost  every  one  of  them  belongs. 

Analysis  of  playthings. — Looking  at  their  activi¬ 
ties  from  the  point  of  view  of  what  sort  of  objects 
interest  them  and  why,  we  can  follow  Woodworth’s  1 
classification  of  toys  to  some  extent,  as  follows :  There 
are:  (1)  Models  of  articles  which  adults  use.  Toy 
boats,  dolls  and  their  accessories  are  good  instances  of 
these.  (2)  Things  that  make  a  noise,  such  as  firecrack¬ 
ers,  whistles,  things  to  be  shaken,  banged  or  struck,  and 
the  more  primitive  forms  of  musical  instruments. 

(3)  Things  that  increase  one’s  speed  in  moving.  Roller 
skates,  sleds,  bicycles,  swings  belong  in  this  class. 

(4)  Things  giving  one  power  at  a  distance.  The  water 
pistol,  pea  shooter,  flash  mirror,  bow  and  arrow,  sling 
shot,  bats  and  balls  of  several  sorts  are  illustrations  of 
this.  And  here  surely  is  one  explanation  of  the  absorp- 


1  Woodworth.  Psychology,  Ch.  19. 


22  A  Study  of  the  Junior  Child 

tion  in  listening  in  by  radio  to  things  which  if  spoken 
or  sung  in  the  same  room  would  not  be  particularly  in¬ 
teresting.  (5)  Things  that  seem  to  disregard  the  force 
of  gravity.  Here  belong  kites,  bouncing  balls,  bal¬ 
ancing  tops,  soap  bubbles.  The  exhilaration  of  going 
up  in  the  Ferris  Wheel,  even  of  swimming  and  floating, 
comes  partly  from  this.  (6)  Plastic  materials,  or  things 
to  be  manipulated  and  managed,  illustrations  being 
boards  and  tools,  paper,  cloth,  snow,  clay,  meccano  sets, 
even  fire.  It  would  be  well  to  list  the  things  with  which 
you  played  between  nine  and  twelve  years  of  age,  and 
see  under  which  class  you  would  place  them.  Some 
things  doubtless  would  be  classified  in  more  than  one 
way ;  the  favorite  playthings  made  an  appeal  for  more 
than  one  reason. 

Other  instinctive  interests. — The  instinct  of 
hunting  shows  in  many  games  of  pursuit,  chase,  and 
capture,  as  well  as  in  the  more  imaginative  games  of 
digging  for  treasure,  Indians,  and  so  forth.  It  enters 
also  into  the  joy  of  aiming  at  a  mark,  as  it  does  so 
obviously  into  fishing  and  trapping.  It  partly  explains 
the  delight  of  crude  cooking  at  picnics,  or  in  the  gang’s 
hang-out.  The  instinct  of  mastery  and  self-assertion 
is  hardly  ever  absent  from  play  occupations.  In  the 
cruder  forms  of  fighting  it  expresses  itself  in  the  rough- 
and-tumble  scramble,  in  wrestling,  in  the  Snow-fort 
battle  of  the  two  crowds.  It  is  an  element  in  all  forms 
of  sport,  where  the  contest  is  primarily  with  nature. 
Overcoming  the  difficulties  of  the  climb,  the  slipperi¬ 
ness  of  the  ice,  the  force  of  the  stream  owes  its  joy  to 
the  fight  involved.  Scarcely  a  game  but  is  competi- 


The  Junior  as  Revealed  in  the  Play  Group  23 

tive.  Most  motor  skills  are  acquired  largely  with  the 
hope  of  beating  someone  else  eventually,  unless  the 
mastery  of  the  implement  itself  is  a  sufficient  strug¬ 
gle.  Even  the  pleasure  of  gaining  mental  skill  is 
deeper  for  the  combat  with  difficulty  it  implies.  The 
instinct  of  fear  is  often  closely  linked  with  this.  Chil¬ 
dren — like  all  of  us — like  fearsomeness  in  objects,  pro¬ 
vided  ultimate  control  is  gained.  Fear  provides  a  thrill 
which  incites  either  to  escape  and  be  chased,  or  to 
attack  and  overcome.  Horrors  to  look  at  are  exciting 
and  pleasant  if  one  can  be  assured  of  getting  away  from 
them.  Dangerous  exploits  are  attractive  for  the  same 
reason,  always  supposing  one’s  skill  is  just  sufficient 
to  overcome  the  danger.  Fear  of  falling  is  success¬ 
fully  woven  into  the  switchback  railway,  shoot  the 
chutes  and  similar  contrivances  in  our  amusement 
parks.  Balancing,  climbing,  swinging  down  from  high 
boughs  all  contribute  to  the  mastery  impulse,  as  the 
danger  is  conquered  by  one’s  magnificent  prowess. 
What  wonder,  then,  that  children  simply  have  to  brag, 
and  to  show  off,  and  to  incite  each  other  to  stunts? 
What  wonder  that  the  athletes  of  the  circus  are  such 
heroes,  and  such  stimulating  examples? 

The  instinct  of  manipulation  is  strongly  represented, 
too,  in  many  of  the  activities.  Sometimes  we  call  it 
constructive  tendency,  but  from  the  adult  point  of  view 
it  is  just  as  often  the  destructive.  So  long  as  the 
hands  are  busy,  and  changes  are  produced  in  the  mate¬ 
rials  upon  which  they  are  at  work,  it  makes  little  dif¬ 
ference  to  the  boy  or  girl  what  we  call  it.  To  make 
things  happen,  to  get  results,  is  the  interest,  rather  than 


24  A  Study  of  the  Junior  Child 

the  social  or  economic  value  of  the  result.  This,  allied 
to  cariosity,  leads  to  much  investigation  into  how  things 
are  made,  why  things  happen,  what  will  happen  if — 
We  might  well  stop  and  ask  ourselves  when  is  mischief 
mischief,  and  when  is  it  misdirected  scientific  experi¬ 
ment,  or  unskilled  workmanship  ?  When  the  manipu¬ 
lation  takes  the  form  of  constructing  a  playhouse  of 
sorts  we  recognize  the  influence  of  the  instinct  of  home- 
making,  like  that  of  nesting  in  the  birds.  For  this, 
the  children  are  dependent  on  the  structural  material 
the  environment  offers.  Temporary  retreats  in  the 
wood  pile,  the  haymow,  the  snow  pile,  the  sand  heap 
will  do,  but  there  is  a  lurking  desire  for  more  permanent 
shelter.  If  they  live  near  woods  we  shall  see  a  sort  of 
wigwam,  probably.  If  there  is  a  sloping  bank,  a  cave 
or  a  tunnel  may  be  fashioned.  The  city  boys  utilize  the 
vacant  lots  and  the  cast-off  treasures  that  find  their  way 
thither  in  the  shape  of  ends  of  board,  linoleum,  tin  cans 
— which  can  be  hammered  out  flat — and  so  forth.  At 
this  age,  there  is  an  ambition  for  a  real  door  and  win¬ 
dow,  perhaps  a  seat  inside,  and  a  contrivance  for  cook¬ 
ing.  Girls  are  less  likely  to  go  to  the  trouble  of  build¬ 
ing  all  this ;  they  more  often  adopt  suggestive  looking 
alcoves,  glades  in  the  woods,  corners  or  area  ways, 
.cubby-holes  under  the  bushes,  and  imagine  the  rest. 
.But  they  must  beautify  their  abode  in  some  way. 
Mosses,  leaves  and  stones  decorate  the  sylvan  retreat, 
textiles,  the  urban  residence.  Dolls  and  their  furniture 
come  to  inhabit  the  home,  and  the  social  life  carried 
on  is  somewhat  different  in  tone  from  that  among  the 
boys.  The  instinct  of  social  activity  is  strong,  too. 


The  Junior  as  Revealed  in  the  Play  Group  25 

Children  at  this  age  far  more  often  play  together  than 
play  singly.  There  is  satisfaction  in  being  together, 
in  sharing  experiences  of  sight  and  sound  and  move¬ 
ment,  in  acting  together,  even  if  competition  does  not 
arise.  The  companions  are  always  very  near  each  other 
in  age,  as  they  naturally  find  greater  community  of  in¬ 
terests  and  abilities  in  those  of  their  own  stage  of 
development  than  in  those  much  younger.  The 
adolescents,  in  turn,  do  not  want  these  preadolescents 
around  with  them,  so  that  they  perforce  coalesce  into 
groups  of  their  own  kind. 

For  Discussion 

1.  In  planning  a  party  for  the  Junior  Department, 
what  are  the  chief  things  to  be  considered  ?  Why  ? 

2.  Recall  any  party  for  Junior  age  children  you  have 
attended  that  has  not  been  a  success.  Try  to  analyze 
the  reason. 

3.  How  could  you  enlist  the  fondness  for  collecting 
in  the  service  of  the  Sunday  school  ? 

4.  What  play  interests  that  you  have  seen  can  be 
used  to  develop  interest  in  missions? 

5.  What  might  you  learn  about  a  child's  character 
from  watching  him  at  play  that  you  could  not  learn 
so  well  from  dealing  with  him  in  a  Sunday-school  class  ? 
Why? 

6.  What  valuable  moral  lessons  do  children  learn 
from  their  play  at  this  age  ? 


CHAPTER  II 


THE  JUNIOR  AS  REVEALED  AT  HOME 

Apart  from  individual  differences  due  to  heredity, 
the  conduct  of  children  is  influenced  by  the  kind  of 
home  training  to  which  they  have  been  subjected. 
Some  will  show  development  due  to  having  shared 
responsibilities,  some  will  be  as  immature  and  helpless 
as  children  of  seven  in  other  homes.  Some  would  do 
their  parents  credit  in  any  company,  some  have  man¬ 
ners  that  would  disgrace  a  Hottentot ;  so  much  depends 
on  the  family’s  standards  and  the  mother’s  way  of  man¬ 
aging.  Racial  and  national  customs  vary  considerably 
also,  so  that  you  would  not  expect  to  find  Julia  O’Brien, 
Liza  Ann  Johnson,  Otto  Schwegler,  Louis  Santi,  Ten 
Eyck  Schuyler  Franklin  T.  Brooks,  and  Virginia  Lee 
all  with  the  same  table  manners,  even  though  they  have 
come  to  wear  much  the  same  sort  of  clothes.  Neither 
does  the  child  in  the  farm  home  compare  directly  with 
the  child  in  the  three-room  city  tenement  or  in  the 
nine-room  small  town  house,  though  all  may  be  in  the 
fifth  grade  in  school.  The  city  and  town  boys  suffer 
more  often  for  lack  of  regular  assignment  of  duties  in 
the  home  than  does  the  country  boy,  whose  contribution 
to  the  family  life  will  almost  surely  include  keeping  the 
fuel  box  filled.  Very  seldom  is  a  boy  required  to  keep 
his  room  in  order,  to  wash  and  wipe  dishes,  sweep  the 
porch,  or  do  the  dozen  other  things  that  are  generally 

26 


The  Junior  as  Revealed  at  Home  27 

expected  from  a  girl.  You  should  know  your  neigh¬ 
borhood’s  customs,  to  supplement  any  general  ideas 
you  may  gain  by  the  closer  study  of  each  of  your  pupils 
in  the  light  of  the  home  influences. 

Of  course,  as  a  faithful  and  interested  Sunday-school 
teacher  you  take  occasion  to  visit  your  pupils  in  their 
homes ;  and  you  have  doubtless  found  that  you  have 
been  very  much  better  able  to  understand  some  of  them 
when  you  are  familiar  with  the  atmosphere  in  which 
they  have  spent  their  early,  impressionable  years,  when 
you  see  the  sort  of  standards  the  family  maintains,  and 
when  you  get  acquainted  with  the  persons  in  the  house¬ 
hold  who  have  been  so  constantly  influencing  the 
thoughts  and  the  emotions  of  the  children. 

“Have  been”  is  a  suggestive  tense ;  for  from  eight 
or  nine  years  old  on  children  show  an  increasing  inde¬ 
pendence,  and,  boys  especially,  a  rapidly  increasing  ten¬ 
dency  to  be  guided  by  the  opinions  of  the  group  of 
their  own  age.  With  this  is  joined  only  too  often  a 
reticence  about  their  own  affairs  which  is  regarded  as 
secrecy,  so  that  many  a  parent  confesses  that  his  boy 
ten  to  eleven  years  of  age  is  really  an  enigma  to  him. 
The  feeling  of  misinterpretation  may  be  mutual,  how¬ 
ever,  and  four  contributing  causes  of  this  mutual  mis¬ 
interpretation  are  here  suggested. 

(1)  One  is  that  the  world  of  ten-  to  twelve-year- 
olds  is  somewhat  isolated  after  all.  They  have  out¬ 
grown  many  interests  that  held  them  up  to  nine  years 
old,  but  are  not  yet  ready  to  sympathize  with  the 
adolescents’  point  of  view.  The  teen-age  people  scorn 
their  company,  as  they  in  turn  scorn  that  of  the  seven- 


28  A  Study  of  the  Junior  Child 

year-olds.  Unless  the  younger  children  arouse  a  kindly, 
protective  type  of  behavior  they  are  felt  as  a  check  or 
a  drag  on  the  many  activities  in  which  these  Juniors 
wish  to  engage.  As  for  adults,  many  of  their  actions 
are  simply  unintelligible.  Adult  motives  leading  to  in¬ 
dustrial  economy,  to  gaining  desired  social  reputation, 
and  to  love-making  are  not  yet  in  the  least  appreciated. 
Children  regard  the  conduct  resulting  from  these  mo¬ 
tives,  when  they  are  conscious  of  it  at  all,  as  boring,  or 
as  highly  ridiculous.  When  it  comes  to  the  actions  of 
adults  toward  themselves,  children  are  apt  to  feel,  un¬ 
comfortably  but  vaguely,  that  these  are  sometimes  un¬ 
just  but  seldom  to  be  foretold.  True,  older  people  are 
convenient  sources  of  pocket  money,  also  of  clothing, 
food  and  other  necessaries  which  are  taken  for  granted ; 
but  the  occasions  of  their  wrath  are  scarcely  to  be  pre¬ 
dicted,  their  attitude  towards  delightful  occupations  is 
quite  uncertain ;  consequently,  a  general  defensive  re¬ 
serve  proves  the  best  policy.  Why,  when  two  boys  fall 
in  the  stream  and  get  their  clothes  soaked,  was  a  scold¬ 
ing  the  immediate  result  ?  Since  it  was,  they  do  not  be¬ 
tray  the  next  accident,  which  unfortunately  leads  to 
serious  consequences  by  not  being  dealt  with  at  once. 
Why  does  one  adult  appear  interested,  even  commenda¬ 
tory,  on  observing  some  constructive  experiments, 
while  another  shows  nothing  hut  exasperation  ? 

(2)  Another  big  reason  for  misunderstandings  is 
that  their  sense  of  ownership  *is  but  imperfectly  devel¬ 
oped.  Though  they  resent  having  their  own  posses¬ 
sions  taken  by  others  or  injured  in  any  way,  they  do 
not  hesitate  to  use  freely  anything  that  is  convenient 


The  Junior  as  Revealed  at  Home 


29 


when  they  are  busy  investigating,  regardless  of  whose 
it  is.  At  home,  too,  many  things  are  used  in  common ; 
and  unless  specific  directions  have  been  given  as  to 
whether  they  may  or  may  not  help  themselves  without 
permission,  or  make  use  of  certain  articles,  they  are  not 
likely  to  stop  and  ask,  when  the  need  of  carrying  out 
some  plkn  is  urgent. 

Several  studies  of  the  spontaneous  growth  of  the 
sense  of  ownership  during  this  age  period  reveal  the 
following  facts:  (a)  Possessions  held  in  common  by  a 
large  group  of  children  are  carelessly  treated,  no  per¬ 
sonal  feeling  of  responsibility  developing.  If  a  group 
from  another  locality  makes  temporary  use  of  these  pos¬ 
sessions,  however,  a  real  anxiety  may  be  expressed  for 
the  careful  handling,  by  the  others,  of  “our”  swings, 
our  water-chute,  and  so  forth.  (&)  A  new  thing 
found,  such  as  a  tree  with  a  bird’s  nest,  is  looked  upon 
as  belonging  to  the  one  who  first  finds  it,  provided  he 
marks  it  in  some  way.  This  individual  ownership  is 
respected  by  the  rest  for  the  period  of  immediate  inter¬ 
est,  in  this  case  for  the  season,  (c)  An  article  bought 
by  a  child  out  of  money  he  has  saved  or  earned  is  felt, 
■both  by  himself  and  others,  to  belong  to  him  specific¬ 
ally*  (d)  An  object  on  which  labor  is  expended  is 
regarded  by  the  child  as  his,  whether  or  not  he  paid 
for  the  materials  used  in  the  labor.  He  resents  other 
people’s  careless  treatment  of  such  an  object.  Other 
children  do  not  necessarily  regard  the  object  as  his 
unless  they  sympathize  with  the  effort  in  the  labor. 
The  brass  door  handles  I  cleaned,  my  steps  that  I 
scrubbed  must  not  be  wantonly  soiled  by  the  other  chil- 


30  A  Study  of  the  Junior  Child 

dren  in  the  orphanage.  ( e )  Food  in  bulk,  in  the  cel¬ 
lar,  ice  box  or  pantry  shelf  does  not  belong  to  the  pur¬ 
chaser  so  much  as  to  the  willing  and  hungry  child ;  but 
food  once  served  on  the  individual  plate  is  “mine.” 
(f)  Goods  bestowed  by  routine  on  several  of  the  group 
are  seldom  distinguishable.  Handkerchiefs,  scarfs,  hair 
ribbons,  are  easily  transferable.  Things  that  fit  only  one, 
such  as  rubbers,  overcoat,  et  cetera,  are  obviously  the 
wearer’s.  When  individual  choice  has  entered  in  there 
is  greater  joy  in  possession  by  the  owner,  and  greater 
respect  of  property  rights  by  others,  but  very  definite 
oversight  is  generally  necessary  as  to  temporary  individ¬ 
ual  use  of  such  things  as  towels,  soap,  brushes,  (g) 
Gifts  belong  especially  to  the  recipient  in  proportion  as 
he  or  she  likes  the  gift. 

(Compare  our  adult  attitudes  towards  (a)  civic 
property  in  the  parks,  ( b )  a  seat  in  a  train,  (c)  intri¬ 
cate  plans  we  have  organized  and  worked  at.) 

In  other  words,  children  use  a  thing  that  they  want 
as  and  when  they  want  it.  Their  first  sense  of  property 
comes  in  connection  with  what  they  themselves  own, 
whether  by  discovery,  use,  purchase,  choice,  creation. 
Their  idea  of  the  rights  of  others  is  of  later  and  slower 
development.  They  may  be  forced  to  recognize  others’ 
rights  by  their  resentment  when  they  infringe ;  they 
may  appreciate  others’  rights  if  motives  similar  to  their 
own  have  obviously  actuated  them.  Where  their  group 
consciousness  is  narrow,  they  will  seldom  realize  the 
property  rights  of  a  large  group,  such  as  the  library, 
the  school,  the  town.  These  may  be  represented  for 
them  in  some  one  personality  who  urges  care  of  pos- 


The  Junior  as  Revealed  at  Home 


31 


sessions.  When  they  are  in  a  hurry,  and  greatly  at¬ 
tracted  by  some  article  they  will  generally  use  it,  very 
little  deterred  by  their  sense  of  others’  ownership. 
Here  is  the  cause  of  much  social  trouble. 

(3)  Further,  children’s  sense  of  fitness  of  time  and 
place  is  not  at  all  the  same  as  that  of  grown-ups.  They 
are  so  much  more  impulsive  that  when  an  idea  strikes 
them  they  want  to  carry  it  out  at  once,  irrespective  of 
the  appropriateness  of  the  occasion. 

(4)  Again,  there  is  keen  delight  in  being  a  cause,  in 
seeing  things  happen  both  in  the  inanimate  world  and 
in  the  world  of  animals  and  people.  The  excited  be¬ 
havior  of  others  is  nearly  always  interesting  to  watch. 
Since  either  fear  or  anger  makes  both  animals  and  peo¬ 
ple  act  in  excited  fashion,  it  is  easy  to  see  how  deliberate 
teasing  may  be  a  delightful  pastime.  When  angry 
grown-ups  lose  their  dignity  and  conduct  themselves  in 
all  sorts  of  ludicrous  ways,  it  is  evident  there  is  no  very 
great  distance  to  cover  from  merely  heedless  action 
which  may  irritate  adults  to  well-planned  mischief  to 
see  them  get  “fussed.”  The  following  instances  of 
children’s  behavior  will  illustrate  these  various  points : 

(a)  Two  little  girls,  ten  and  nine,  decided  to  give 
their  mother  a  surprise.  They  dressed  up  the  cat  and 
dog,  borrowing  for  the  purpose  what  looked  to  them  like 
dirty  lace,  arguing  that  they  used  soiled  towels  some¬ 
times  on  the  dog,  so,  as  the  lace  was  dirty,  it  didn’t 
matter.  They  pushed  the  animals  into  the  parlor 
where  guests  were  being  entertained,  and  watched  their 
antics  from  the  hall.  Unfortunately  the  chasing  around 
resulted  in  tearing  the  valuable  lace  costumes. 


32 


A  Study  of  the  Junior  Child 


( b )  Several  children  playing  circus  used  the  backs  of 
chairs  and  the  bottom  rails  of  beds  as  gymnastic  ap¬ 
paratus.  A  pyramid  of  chairs  on  the  bureau  top,  a 
clothes  line  tight  rope  from  gas  fixture  to  window- 
catch  and  other  acrobatic  stage  properties  wrought  dis¬ 
astrous  results  on  the  furniture. 

(c)  A  boy  of  ten  delighted  in  teasing  his  fourteen- 
year-old  sister  and  her  friend,  and  jeered  at  all  their 
threats.  One  device  was  to  lie  in  wait  behind  a  billboard 
with  a  pile  of  stones.  As  they  rounded  the  corner  of  the 
road  on  their  bicycles,  he  managed  to  hit  the  front  wheel 
enough  to  make  the  rider  swerve.  Another  plan  was 
to  find  where  his  sister  kept  the  diary  in  which  she 
wrote  at  length,  borrow  it  and  memorize  parts  which  he 
would  quote  at  table,  or  in  any  company  where  he 
thought  it  might  prove  embarrassing  to  her. 

( d )  Ten-year-old  Clare  took  pity  on  some  ducklings 
that  had  no  place  to  swim.  She  caught  five  and  placed 
them  in  a  tub  of  water  in  the  yard.  As  it  was  a  chilly 
March  day  and  the  ducklings  had  been  hatched  less  than 
a  week  they  all  succumbed. 

( e )  Perry  and  Charles,  excited  by  the  events  of 
Christmas  morning  started  a  game  of  tag  around  the 
dinner  table  just  set  and  specially  decorated.  A  wild 
clutch  at  the  corner,  and — picture  the  rest. 

(f)  Stuart’s  mother,  with  many  invitations  out  to  a 
tea  for  which  there  were  extensive  and  intricate  prepa¬ 
rations,  waited  all  the  afternoon  with  curtains  drawn 
and  the  lights  on,  listening  to  automobiles  arriving, 
stopping  and  driving  away  again,  but  without  deposit¬ 
ing  any  guests.  Later  it  was  found  that  Stuart  and 


The  Junior  as  Revealed  at  Home  33 

two  friends  had  attached  long  crepe  streamers  to  the 
door,  and  were  having  lots  of  fun  watching  develop¬ 
ments. 

(g)  Margaret  and  Jack  waited  until  their  neighbors — 
two  elderly  maiden  ladies — were  sure  to  be  at  home  and 
likely  to  be  looking  out  of  the  side  window.  Then  they 
enjoyed  walking  the  fence  rail  by  the  newly  sown  lawn, 
as  the  ladies  could  usually  be  relied  on  to  come  out  in 
great  agitation  and  caution  them  off. 

Interest  in  life  processes. — Another  reason  chil¬ 
dren  and  parents  grow  apart  is  on  account  of  the 
latter’s  not  keeping  pace  with  the  curiosity  that  is  ever 
questioning  about  things  only  partly  understood.  Par¬ 
ticularly  is  this  true  with  regard  to  sex  information. 
Some  parents  believe  they  can  keep  children  ignorant, 
and  hush  up  all  queries  on  the  subject ;  some  are  too 
embarrassed  to  talk  about  such  matters ;  some  evade 
the  truth,  or  try  to  put  the  children  off  with  a  mixture 
of  myth  and  falsehood  which  they  outgrow  by  the  time 
they  are  eight.  Whatever  the  cause,  it  is  unfortunately 
only  too  true  that  a  very  large  proportion  of  boys  gain 
their  sex  information  from  quite  unclean  sources,  per¬ 
haps  from  older  boys  who  are  partly  misinformed,  widely 
curious,  and  who  delight  in  shocking  and  perverting 
the  younger  ones.  Scarcely  a  boy  of  ten  but  knows 
more  than  his  sister  a  year  or  two  older  does,  not  simply 
of  the  reproductive  processes,  but  also  of  vice,  obscenity 
and  depravity.  We  sometimes  find  girls  of  twelve  who 
have  been  given  no  warning  whatever  of  the  pubertal 
changes  they  may  shortly  expect ;  but  happily,  girls  are 
more  often  safeguarded  by  their  mothers  with  clean, 


34  A  Study  of  the  Junior  Child 

wholesome  knowledge  than  left  to  the  fears  and  super¬ 
stitions  of  ignorant  friends  or  the  chances  of  intuitive 
understanding  of  their  own  natures.  Along  with  the 
greater  precocity  in  knowledge  on  the  part  of  boys  goes 
very  frequently  an  indulgence  in  a  number  of  dirty 
habits  shared  by  the  companions  of  the  gang,  all  un¬ 
known  to  the  mother,  perhaps  guessed  at  but  unmen¬ 
tioned  by  the  father.  From  ten  to  twelve  seems  to  be 
the  height  of  this  unpleasant  phase  of  boy  development 
— a  phase  tacitly  recognized  but  seldom  adequately 
dealt  with.  Early  and  frank  dealing  with  children  in 
an  atmosphere  of  scientific  interest  in  life  processes,  and 
reverent,  modest  care  of  one’s  own  body  and  the  persons 
of  others,  is  the  best  preventive  of  unwholesome  atti¬ 
tudes  and  obscene  actions. 

Neatness. — Children  of  this  age  are  not  noted  for 
their  orderliness,  so  that  unless  there  has  been  very 
careful  home  training  in  the  formation  of  tidy  habits, 
you  will  find  most  of  them  strewing  their  own  and 
common  possessions  anywhere  that  they  have  been 
using  them,  wherever  it  is  convenient  at  the  moment. 
On  the  whole  girls  are  rather  more  tidy  than  boys, 
since  they  usually  have  a  better  eye  for  decorative 
effects ;  but  this  by  no  means  implies  that  girls  are 
noted  for  neatness.  In  any  case,  many  of  the  occu¬ 
pations  which  they  all  find  interesting  create  what  we 
might  call  a  “mess” ;  but  then,  all  workmen  make  a 
litter  at  some  stage  of  the  proceedings.  Happy  are 
those  children  who  have  some  space  of  their  own 
wherein  they  are  free  to  work  out  their  projects  with¬ 
out  frequent  interference  because  of  the  necessity  of 


The  Junior  as  Revealed  at  Home  35 

clearing  the  way  for  meals,  for  company,  for  other 
prosaic  claims. 

Cleanliness. — This  is  another  virtue  not  found 
flourishing  among  nine-  to  eleven-year-olds.  Here 
again  more  girls  than  boys  are  careful  not  to  soil 
their  clothing,  but  that  need  only  mean  that  a  very  few 
are  thus  careful,  for  almost  no  boys  are.  Well  indeed 
may  the  latter  be  compared  to  little  savages,  for  most 
of  the  time  they  show  an  absolute  disregard  of  personal 
appearance,  not  to  mention  a  positive  aversion  to  soap 
and  water.  Handwashing  before  meals  is  an  unwelcome 
practice ;  and  Edward,  who  economically  wet  the 
inside  of  one  hand  only  because  the  rest  would  “do,”  is 
typical  of  many  eleven-year-olds.  During  these  years,  if 
not  before,  children  are  entrusted  with  the  care  of  their 
own  bodies  so  far  as  bathing  goes ;  but  any  mother  will 
tell  you  it  takes  daily  inspection  on  her  part  to  see  that 
boys  and  girls  alike  wash  their  necks  and  other  parts 
they  cannot  see,  and  when  it  comes  to  details  such  as 
nails,  ears,  eye  corners,  etc.,  “eternal  vigilance  is  the 
price  of  good  habits,”  as  one  psychologist  puts  it. 

Punctuality. — Here  is  another  goal  but  imper¬ 
fectly  achieved  at  this  age.  If  the  family  insists  upon 
it  children  may  be  well  on  time  for  meals,  and  ready  to 
start  for  school  without  a  scramble.  Such  habits  must 
be  specifically  trained,  however ;  there  is  no  guarantee 
that  children  who  are  punctual  for  some  engagements 
will  not  be  tardy  for  others,  nor  that  constant  reminders 
of  bedtime  will  not  be  necessary  for  those  who  require 
no  urging  to  the  dinner  table.  Only  too  often  there  is  a 
tendency  forming  to  dawdle  along,  taking  two  to  three 


36 


A  Study  of  the  Junior  Child 


times’  the  time  required  for  any  task.  If  unchecked, 
this  tendency  fixes  lazy,  loitering  habits  which  are  ex¬ 
ceedingly  difficult  to  overcome  in  adolescence  and 
which  will  cause  no  end  of  social  inconvenience  now 
and  later.  Imaginative,  dreamy  children  are  more 
prone  to  this  habit  as  a  cause  for  tardiness  than  are 
those  whose  vitality  leads  them  into  activities  so  en¬ 
grossing  that  they  forget  the  time. 

Responsibility. — Marian  has  a  puppy  for  whose 
care,  welfare  and  training  she  is  entirely  responsible. 
Except  that  it  is  not  allowed  to  sleep  on  her  bed  it  is 
her  inseparable  companion.  Alan  keeps  rabbits  in  the 
back  yard  and  has  developed  a  good  deal  of  enterprise  in 
earning  money  to  pay  for  their  feed.  Raymond,  whose 
mother  is  “easy,”  keeps  chickens,  having  had  them 
bought  for  him  in  the  first  place,  getting  most  of  their 
food  from  the  kitchen  scraps,  and  charging  his  mother 
the  highest  market  price  for  eggs.  His  father  pur¬ 
chased  the  necessary  lumber,  then  helped  him  and  his 
friends  in  the  enjoyable  job  of  setting  up  and  shingling 
the  chicken  house.  Anna  has  no  pets ;  she  affects  a 
strong  distaste  for  cats  and  indifference  to  dogs,  and 
thinks  Alan’s  rabbits  are  dirty.  She  has  a 
younger  sister  of  five  whom  she  delights  to  tease,  be¬ 
coming  impatient  when  she  cries.  She  is  quick 
and  tomboyish  herself,  and  cannot  resist  poking  fun 
at  her  slower,  more  delicate  fifteen-year-old  sister. 
Russell,  who  is  ten,  almost  worships  his  fairy-like  three- 
year-old  sister,  and  is  most  cooperative  with  his  mother 
in  looking  out  for  her  welfare.  John,  at  the  same  age, 
cannot  bear  to  have  six-year-old  Jerry  tagging  along 


The  Junior  as  Revealed  at  Home  37 

with  him.  Eleven-year-old  Rita  lives  in  a  home  where 
two  maids  are  kept,  and  has  been  taught  that  “the 
kitchen  is  not  the  place  for  little  girls.”  She  has  never 
been  called  on  to  make  her  own  bed  and  would  be  hor¬ 
rified  were  she  expected  to  help  wipe  the  dishes  or 
to  dust.  Agnes,  by  contrast,  does  these  things  regu¬ 
larly  and  easily,  and  is  also  trusted  to  set  the  table  for 
meals.  She  is  learning  to  bake  cake,  too,  and  is  very 
proud  of  the  fact.  Jean  has  three  younger  ones  to 
care  for,  and  is  a  real  little  mother  to  them.  She 
amuses  and  tends  the  baby,  plays  with  them  all,  helps 
sew  and  mend  for  them,  puts  three-year-old  Alice  to 
bed,  looks  after  their  manners  at  all  times,  and  con¬ 
voys  Bobby  safely  over  two  street  crossings  to  the 
school  they  attend. 

Thus  to  sum  up,  children  of  this  age  are  usually 
impulsive,  heedless  and  irresponsible ;  but  if  their 
training  has  placed  upon  them  definite  responsi¬ 
bilities,  we  may  find  habits  of  carefulness  in  social 
adjustment,  helpfulness,  and  skill  in  many  directions. 

An  important  factor  in  the  development  of  children 
is  their  right  to  money  of  their  own.  In  some  homes 
the  younger  members  get  spending  money  whenever 
they  tease  for  it,  provided  the  parents  are  in  a  good 
humor.  In  other  homes  there  is  a  weekly  dole  which 
is  promptly  exchanged  for  candy.  Tickets  to  the 
movies  can  then  be  wheedled,  errands  charged  for, 
offerings  for  the  collection  demanded  a  few  minutes 
before  the  start  to  school  on  Sunday.  In  others  a  fixed 
allowance  is  given  with  the  express  understanding  of 
what  it  is  to  cover ;  no  bribes  for  good  behavior,  no  tips 


38  A  Study  of  the  Junior  Child 

from  an  impulsively  generous  father,  no  soft-hearted 
cancellation  of  bad  bargains  or  small  debts  helps  eke 
out  the  income.  In  which  type  of  training  do  you 
think  the  four  uses  of  money  are  best  taught,  namely, 
how  to  earn,  how  to  save,  how  to  spend,  how  to  give  ? 

For  each  pupil  then,  find  out  all  you  can  on  the 
following  points. 

(1)  Whereabouts  in  the  family  he  or  she  comes. 
Are  there  older  brothers  and  sisters?  Younger  ones? 
What  sort  of  treatment  is  accorded  your  pupil  by  the 
older  ones?  What  is  the  relationship  between  him 
and  the  younger  ones? 

(2)  What  standards  of  refinement  are  evident  in  the 
furnishings?  At  the  table?  Are  the  children  so 
trained  in  courtesy  that  their  good  manners  are  auto¬ 
matic?  Or  are  they  self-consciously  displaying  “com¬ 
pany  manners?”  Or  are  they  lacking  in  good  breed- 
ing? 

(3)  Are  their  fathers  and  mothers  confidants  of  your 
pupils,  or  are  they  unaware  of  much  that  they  do? 
Have  they  instructed  them  in  matters  of  sex? 

(4)  What  home  duties  devolve  upon  the  children  ? 

(5)  Do  they  have  a  regular  pocket  money  allow¬ 
ance? 

(6)  Is  there  a  fixed  hour  for  retiring?  Do  they 
keep  to  it? 

(7)  Is  there  any  special  place  where  the  children  can 
play  undisturbed,  and  keep  their  own  treasured  belong¬ 
ings? 

(8)  What  sort  of  conversation  do  they  hear  at 
meals?  Is  it  gossip  about  the  neighbors,  the  details  of 


The  Junior  as  Revealed  at  Home  39 

the  housewife’s  tasks,  sporting  news,  the  family’s  daily 
doings,  current  events  in  the  world’s  work,  politics,  art, 
drama,  literature? 

(9)  Are  the  children  nagged  at  for  faults?  Are 
they  punished?  If  so,  how? 

(10)  Which  of  them  have  pets  to  care  for?* 

(11)  Is  there  any  custom  of  family  prayers,  family 
hymn-singing,  grace  at  table?  Do  the  children  read 
the  Bible  at  home,  either  aloud  to  their  mother  or  to 
themselves  ? 


For  Discussion 

1.  What  have  you  found  out  in  your  visits  at  the 
homes  of  your  pupils  that  would  offer  suggestions  as 
to  an  interesting  and  worth-while  topic  for  a  parent- 
teachers’  meeting?  Some  of  the  points  given  above 
for  observation  you  would  find  of  value  for  such  meet¬ 
ings. 

2.  Do  you  find  that  children  who  are  punctual  at 
day  school  are  on  time  for  the  Sunday-school  session  ? 
If  not,  why  not?  How  does  the  home  influence  count 
in  the  case  of  those  who  are  frequently  tardy? 

3.  In  view  of  the  facts  cited  about  the  sense  of 
property  rights,  suggest  several  methods  of  training 
by  which  this  can  be  helpfully  developed. 

4.  What  books  on  child-training  could  you  recom¬ 
mend  as  helpful  for  the  parents  of  your  children  to 
read  ? 

See  books  especially  by  these  authors. 

E.  H.  Abbott. 

Susan  Chenery. 

Patterson  Du  Bois. 

Dorothy  Canfield  Fisher. 

W.  Byron  Forbush. 

Sidonie  Gruenberg. 


40 


A  Study  of  the  Junior  Child 


Wm.  Lee  Howard. 

Edwin  A.  Kirkpatrick. 

Wm.  A.  McKeever. 

J.  A.  Puffer. 

Kate  D.  Wiggin. 

Ira  D.  Wile. 

Are  these  represented  in  your  town  library? 

Prepare  a  list  of  titles  to  accompany  this  list  of 
authors’  names,  and  become  acquainted  with  the  style, 
technicality  and  scope  of  one  of  these  books.  Criticise 
this  book  in  some  future  class  meeting. 


CHAPTER  III 


THE  JUNIOR  AS  REVEALED  IN  DAY  SCHOOL 

Fore-Exercise 

Purpose.  To  discover  the  grasp  of  abstractions,  as 
such. 

Ask  six  different  children,  two  of  ten  years  old,  two 
of  eleven,  two  of  twelve,  the  following  question.  Use 
exactly  this  wording  and  no  other.  Take  down  exactly 
what  each  says ;  do  not  trust  to  your  memory.  Ask 
each  child  separately  so  that  no  one  hears  the  reply  but 
yourself. 

“What  is  justice?  What  do  we  mean  by  justice?” 
If  one  replies,  “It  means  to  have  justice,  (or  to  be 
just)”  add,  “Yes,  but  what  does  it  mean  to  be  just?” 

A  satisfactory  answer  might  be,  “Getting  punished 
for  doing  wrong,”  or  “Treating  everybody  just  the 
same,  no  matter  who  they  are.”  Unsatisfactory  an¬ 
swers  would  be,  “To  do  right,”  “To  be  honest.” 

Try  similarly  for  the  meanings  of  pardon ;  charity ; 
salvation.  Bring  the  six  answers  to  class  for  compari¬ 
son. 

Grading. — If  by  “Junior”  is  meant  children  be¬ 
tween  nine  and  twelve  years  old,  you  would  have  to  look 
for  them  in  day  school  all  the  way  through  the  grades ; 
for  some  backward,  stupid  children  of  nine  may  be  in 
the  first  grade,  and  some  very  bright  children  of  twelve 
are  away  up  in  the  high  school.  Indeed,  we  have  some 
very  unusual  instances  of  boys  of  twelve  being  ready 
for  college.  However,  such  extreme  cases  would  ob- 

41 


42  A  Study  of  the  Junior  Child 

viously  not  be  fit  material  for  any  Junior  Department. 
You  are  really  more  concerned  with  children  who  are 
normally  in  the  fourth,  fifth,  sixth,  and  perhaps  low 
seventh  grades,  which  correspond  most  closely  to  the 
classes  grouped  in  the  Sunday  school  as  Juniors.  One 
of  the  first  things  that  should  be  observed  is  the  age- 
grade  distribution,  which  the  superintendent  or  grade 
teacher  ought  to  be  able  to  supply.  This  would  show 
that  in  the  fourth  grade,  for  instance,  though  there  are 
more  children  whose  tenth  birthday  is  the  nearest  than 
of  any  other  age,  there  are  also  some  eight-year-olds, 
one  or  two  very  bright  children  not  yet  eight,  some 
nearly  eleven,  and  a  few  dull  ones  of  over  eleven. 
Similarly  for  the  fifth  grade  and  the  sixth ;  you  would 
in  all  probability  find  a  spread  of  four  to  five  years  in 
age  in  one  grade.  If  the  day  school  is  large  enough  to 
permit  reclassification  at  least  every  half  year  you  may 
find  a  rather  closer  age  range.  If  the  school  is  up  to 
date  in  its  classification,  whether  large  or  small,  it  will 
have  groupings  within  the  grade  of  the  brightest  chil¬ 
dren,  the  more  ordinary  ones  and  the  duller  ones. 
These  are  expected  to  cover  the  minimum  grade  re-- 
quirements  in  less  time  than  usual,  in  the  allotted  time, 
and  in  rather  longer  than  the  allotted  time,  respec¬ 
tively.  It  would  be  very  wise  to  find  out  the  details 
of  the  grading  of  your  particular  pupils,  so  that  you 
may  understand  the  progress  they  are  making.  One 
half  to  two  thirds  of  them,  roughly,  will  be  classed 
with  the  typical  grade  class,  one  sixth  to  one  fourth 
are  lagging  behind  or  are  in  the  slow  moving  section, 
and  the  same  proportion  carry  the  work  so  easily  that 


The  Junior  as  Revealed  in  Day  School  4 3 

they  win  rapid  promotion  if  well  taught,  or  develop 
bored,  lazy  attitudes  if  they  are  not  kept  up  to  their 
best  level  of  performance. 

A  visit  to  the  classroom  where  your  pupils  spend 
about  twenty-five  hours  a  week  will  put  you  in  touch 
with  the  methods  of  teaching  to  which  they  are  accus¬ 
tomed,  and  with  their  reactions  to  the  general  influ¬ 
ences  of  the  school.  You  may  wonder,  sometimes,  if 
they  really  are  the  same  children  you  meet  on  Sunday 
or  whom  you  have  seen  at  home  and  at  play.  They  act 
so  differently.  Why  is  that?  Partly  because  they  form 
specialized  habits,  not  general  ones.  Thus,  though 
Louise  is  peevish  and  speaks  fretfully  at  home,  her 
voice  has  a  very  different  tone  quality  here.  Adelaide, 
whose  room  at  home  is  perpetually  strewn  with  cloth¬ 
ing  and  toys,  has  a  desk  in  perfect  order.  Lawrence, 
who  chatters  continuously  at  play,  is  stiff  and  silent. 
Martin  who  is  readily  absorbed  in  knife  whittling, 
seems  unable  to  pay  attention  to  his  book.  Henry, 
who  has  been  a  terror  to  two  successive  Sunday-school 
teachers  by  his  noisy  ways  and  impish  tricks,  seems  to 
be  a  model  of  deportment.  Morton,  who  has  been 
slouchy  and  uninterested  on  Sunday  surprises  you  by 
the  efficient  manner  in  which  he  acts  as  chairman  of  a 
hastily  summoned  council.  Children  keep  one  set  of 
habits  for  the  traditional  routine  of  the  schoolroom,  for 
the  teacher  during  school  hours,  and  another  set  for 
the  same  teacher  on  the  street,  for  the  group  of  seats 
in  Sunday  school,  for  the  Quarterlies  and  hymn  books, 
for  the  behavior  expected  or  accepted  from  them  by 
different  people  under  different  circumstances. 


44  A  Study  of  the  Junior  Child 

Their  minds  seem  to  function  in  somewhat  separate 
compartments  too.  Having  distinct  hours  set  aside 
for  history,  geography,  and  literature,  they  apparently 
accept  these  studies  as  so  disparate  that  when 
knowledge  acquired  in  one  connection  is  required 
in  solving  problems  of  presumably  another  branch 
of  learning  they  are  disturbed  by  the  intrusion. 
Discussing  current  events  one  day,  Alice  was  asked 
where  Rome  was  and  could  not  tell  until  a  neighbor 
helpfully  whispered,  “That’s  geography,”  when  the  right 
answer  was  forthcoming.  Wilbur  was  surprised  to 
find  that  the  Egypt  of  the  Moses  stories  and  the  Egypt 
of  his  Africa  lesson  were  one  and  the  same  country. 

Again,  children  react  specifically  to  people,  finding 
out  quickly  and  surely  which  teacher  can  be  wheedled, 
and  which  is  unlikely  to  put  up  with  any  fooling.  They 
know  too,  who  is  severe,  who  is  easy-going,  who  will 
laugh  sarcastically  at  them,  who  will  laugh  with  them 
in  comradeship.  They  soon  discover  who  must  be 
obeyed  instantly,  who  is  willing  to  repeat  directions 
five  or  six  times  with  a  sort  of  remonstrative,  help¬ 
less  crescendo,  who  may  be  flouted  with  impunity.  No 
wonder  that  the  different  teachers  cannot  always  be¬ 
lieve  the  reputation  with  which  children  pass  from 
grade  to  grade. 

Another  thing  it  would  be  well  to  look  for  is  the 
standard  set  in  the  difficulty  of  the  home  assignments. 
One  Sunday  school  superintendent  who  objected  to  a 
certain  set  of  lessons  designed  for  third  year  Juniors 
on  the  ground  that  ten-year-old  children  should  be 
taught  by  having  stories  told  them,  was  convinced  of 


The  Junior  as  Revealed  in  Day  School  45 

the  possibilities  of  additional  teaching  and  study  meth¬ 
ods  when  he  saw  the  sort  of  work  his  own  daughter 
did  in  the  fifth  grade  at  school.  There  the  children 
were  being  accustomed  to  the  use  of  dictionaries  and 
encyclopaedias ;  they  collected  pertinent  clippings  from 
several  magazines  and  papers,  drew  maps,  composed 
and  staged  a  little  play  of  their  own,  and  were  trained 
in  other  ways  to  do  independent  thinking  and  simple 
research.  Why  should  we  let  the  children  think  it 
impossible  to  do  any  home  work  in  connection  with  the 
Sunday  lesson  when  they  take  it  as  a  matter  of  course 
that  they  have  to  work  for  Monday’s  ? 

What  type  of  music  do  they  learn?  You  may  find 
they  not  only  have  easy  songs  at  day  school  by  which 
they  acquire  the  art  of  reading  music  and  of  part  sing¬ 
ing,  but  that  they  are  introduced  to  good  pieces  of 
music  by  classic  composers.  Only  too  often  conditions 
are  such  that  children  accept  Sunday  school  as  the 
place  where  trashy  jingles  are  used  with  any  cheap 
harmonization  so  long  as  there  is  catchy  rhythm,  with 
one  constant  adjuration  to  sing  louder — ‘‘Now,  every¬ 
body  sing !”  Good  music  is  associated  in  many  chil¬ 
dren’s  minds,  not  with  the  church  school  and  its  wor¬ 
ship,  but  with  other  environments ;  and  this  when  some 
of  the  loveliest  art  the  world  knows  is  at  the  disposal 
of  the  church,  and  is  also  well  within  the  reach  of 
even  ten-year-old  children,  as  evidenced  by  the  beauti¬ 
ful  singing  of  some  trained  choirs. 

In  general  these  years  in  school  are  especially  the 
time  for  training  in  the  formal  subjects  of  spelling, 
penmanship,  and  arithmetic,  for  beginning  to  study 


46  A  Study  of  the  Junior  Child 

geography,  history,  and  grammar  from  textbooks,  since 
the  art  of  reading  has  been  acquired.  Children  need 
and  rather  enjoy  a  great  amount  of  drilling  in  the 
technique  of  these  studies,  and  into  this  drill  a  good 
deal  of  rivalry  enters.  Boys  vie  with  girls,  two  rooms 
of  one  grade  jealously  watch  each  other’s  achievements, 
members  of  one  class  compete  feverishly  for  the  honor 
of  being  “top/’  Marks  become  so  important  that  they 
are  striven  for  as  ends  in  themselves ;  and  often,  alas, 
unfair  means  are  taken  to  gain  them.  It  is  so  easy 
to  stimulate  cheating  by  undue  emphasis  on  relative 
standing  that  the  use  of  more  general  grade  standards 
by  which  each  child  can  measure  his  own  skill  and 
thereafter  strive  to  improve  his  own  record  is  a  great 
help  in  redirecting  this  strong  instinct  of  competition. 
Some  day  we  may  have  some  such  general  objective 
standards  for  the  Sunday  school,  in  memory  work,  in¬ 
formation,  and  habits  of  conduct,  as  we  now  have  for 
the  elementary  and  grammar  grades  of  our  public 
schools. 

Of  all  the  known  grade  norms,  those  that  may  be 
interesting  for  the  Sunday-school  teacher  in  evalu¬ 
ating  her  pupils’  abilities  are  as  follows. 

Reading. — In  the  fourth  grade,  about  the  middle 
of  the  school  year,  children  can  ordinarily  read  si¬ 
lently  and  carry  out  the  directions  accurately,  in 
from  six  to  eight  paragraphs  such  as  this  given  be¬ 
low  in  five  minutes  of  time. 

Below  a  simple,  one-inch  drawing  of  an  opened 
book  is  the  following: 

“This  book  is  lying  on  the  desk,  but  it  is  hard  to 


The  Junior  as  Revealed  in  Day  School  47 

make  it  stay  open.  With  your  pencil  draw  a  single 
straight  line  to  represent  a  ruler  lying  across  the  book 
to  hold  the  pages  open.  Be  sure  to  make  the  line 
from  one  side  to  the  other,  across  the  book,  instead 
of  making  it  go  up  and  down."  1 

Children  of  ordinary  ability  in  the  fifth  grade  could 
handle  from  seven  to  nine  similar  paragraphs  in  five 
minutes.  In  the  sixth  grade  from  eight  to  ten  is  the 
usual  number  for  ordinary  children,  for  the  more  gifted 
ones  perhaps  as  many  as  fifteen.  Of  course  the  words 
in  this  paragraph  are  not  particularly  difficult,  but  the 
point  is  to  measure  the  rapidity  of  the  reading  and  the 
instant  and  accurate  grasp  of  the  sense  so  that  no 
errors  appear  in  the  drawings,  for  instance,  two  lines 
to  represent  a  ruler  instead  of  what  is  called  for.  (Did 
you  test  yourself  to  see  either  how  many  seconds  it 
took  you  to  read  the  paragraph,  or  whether  you  were 
sure  enough  of  it  at  the  first  reading  to  do  instantly 
what  was  asked  without  a  second  look?) 

This  function  of  mental  grasp  from  silent  reading 
is  about  as  indicative  of  general  intelligence  as  anything 
else  that  we  could  test  with  equal  ease  and  speed.  You 
will  do  well  to  find  where  your  pupils  stand  in  a  test 
of  this  sort  so  that  you  will  have  some  idea,  not  only 
of  their  brightness  in  general,  but  also  of  how  long  you 
should  allow  for  reading  from  the  Quarterly  or  the 
Bible  to  receive  an  answer  to  a  question  you  have  put. 

Speed  of  writing. — There  is  a  scale  of  penman¬ 
ship  known  as  the  Thorndike  scale,  showing  all  grades 
of  qualities  and  styles  from  a  bad,  almost  illegible 


1  Quoted  from  the  Burgess  Silent  Reading  Scale  (form  1). 


48 


A  Study  of  the  Junior  Child 


sample  up  to  practically  copperplate  perfection.  These 
samples  are  numbered  from  4  up  to  18.  We  can 
measure  children  by  comparing  their  penmanship  with 
the  numbered  samples  on  the  scale,  and  assigning  their 
product  a  number  corresponding  to  the  sample  theirs 
resembles  most  closely  in  regularity,  spacing,  beauty, 
legibility  and  general  style.  Then  by  timing  them,  we 
can  state  that  so  and  so  writes  quality  9  at  the  rate  of 
60  letters  per  minute.  Thus  we  know  that  for  grades 
four,  five,  and  six  respectively,  at  about  midyear,  chil¬ 
dren  should  write  quality  8  at  50  letters  per  minute, 
quality  9  at  60  letters  per  minute  and  almost  at  quality 
10  at  68  letters  per  minute.  To  make  this  quite  clear 
you  should  really  take  opportunity  to  consult  this  scale 
and  get  acquainted  with  the  numbered  qualities.  Then 
you  again  will  have  some  guide  in  knowing  what  to 
expect  in  the  way  of  speed  and  general  goodness  of 
handwriting  from  your  group.  Thus  to  write  out 
such  a  text  as  “Happy  is  the  man  that  findeth  wis¬ 
dom,”  or,  “Thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbor  as  thyself," 
the  first-year  Juniors  would  need  a  full  minute  on  the 
average,  allowing  time  for  dictating  or  for  looking 
back  to  the  original  they  are  copying.  The  fourth- 
year  class  would  take  about  three-quarters  as  long. 
The  younger  children’s  script  would  be  larger,  prob¬ 
ably  ;  and  in  several  of  our  series  of  lesson  books  there 
is  not  sufficient  space  left  after  the  printed  questions 
in  the  Quarterlies  for  all  they  need  to  write.  These 
children  also  require  plenty  of  space  to  dispose  of  their 
arms  and  legs  as  they  write.  A  table  is  far  more  con¬ 
venient  for  them  than  the  use  of  writing  pads  to  hold 


The  Junior  as  Revealed  in  Day  School  49 

in  their  laps,  or  even  the  wide  arms  of  student  chairs. 
The  fourth-year  class  can  get  along  with  these  last 
very  well. 

Abstract  and  generalized  thinking. — What  shall 
be  said  of  the  abstract  ideas  expressed  in  books  chil¬ 
dren  read?  Do  they  grasp  these  and  respond  to  them 
as  well  as  to  the  direct,  specific  descriptions  given 
above  ?  Most  emphatically,  they  do  not.  At  best  they 
interpret  to  themselves  by  means  of  a  narrow,  concrete 
illustration ;  at  worst  they  pass  these  ideas  by  with 
foggy  vision,  or  misinterpret.  It  is  seldom  that  they 
can  give  good  meanings  for  purely  abstract  terms  be¬ 
fore  twelve  years  old.  To  explain  “pity,”  one  eleven- 
year  old  said,  “She  lost  her  purse;  it  was  a  pity.” 
Another  said,  “The  cat  scratched  her;  it  was  a  pity.” 
“It’s  when  you  break  something.”  “To  cheer  people 
up,”  are  other  samples  of  inadequate  explanations. 
Notice  how  the  particular  occasion  of  misfortune  when 
the  phrase  might  have  been  used  is  associated  in  the 
children’s  minds  with  the  meaning  as  a  general  thing. 
At  twelve  years  old  three  fourths  of  the  children  can 
give  more  satisfactory  definitions  of  terms  such  as  “re¬ 
venge,”  “charity,”  “justice,”  whereas  earlier  the 
thought  of  the  action  involved  or  the  most  frequent 
use  of  the  word  will  influence  their  replies. 

Since  the  mental  grasp  is  less  now  than  four  or  five 
years  later,  we  find  that  they  do  not  take  in  so  much 
mental  material  in  one  act  of  attention,  nor  do  they 
appreciate  the  inner  relationships  of  things  well  enough 
to  be  able  to  attend  to  a  difficult  topic  of  thought 
long  without  tiring.  These  facts  about  attention  and 


50  A  Study  of  the  Junior  Child 

apperception  affect  their  processes  of  reasoning  in  three 
ways.  (1)  Since  they  do  not  perceive  likenesses  and 
differences,  except  superficial  ones,  clearly,  they  tend  to 
make  poor  comparisons,  and  thus  analyze  poorly.  (2) 
Since  they  do  not  sustain  attention  very  long,  they  often 
fail  to  follow  out  a  train  of  reasoning  to  its  conclusion ; 
they  would  rather  jump  at  it,  generalize  hastily  and 
leave  it  without  verification.  (3)  Since  the  range  of 
attention  is  not  large  they  are  likely  to  see  only  part  of 
an  implication  at  once  and  fail  to  connect  the  parts  into 
larger  wholes  for  reflection.  Boys  reason  better  than 
girls  at  these  ages,  we  note,  especially  in  things  to  do 
with  mathematics  and  in  practical  situations.  Girls  are 
superior  to  boys  in  appreciation  of  poetical  meaning, 
and  often  in  choosing  the  best  definition  out  of  several 
offered. 

Other  facts  about  imagination  and  memory  will  be 
reserved  for  description  in  later  chapters. 

Let  us  now  watch  them  in  school,  and  see  what  they 
are  doing.  In  this  sixth  grade  room  of  thirty  children 
a  history  lesson  is  going  on.  On  the  board  are  four 
questions  indicating  the  main  points  of  an  outline,  and 
under  each  a  few  phrases  containing  suggestions  of 
answers.  The  teacher  asks  Louise  to  tell  what  she  has 
found  about  the  first  topic,  and,  nothing  loath,  Louise 
springs  up  and  begins  an  animated  account  of  a  descrip¬ 
tion  she  has  read.  Charles  wildly  interrupts,  and  three 
or  four  others  are  excitedly  waving  their  hands,  so 
eager  are  they  to  contribute.  Robert,  indeed,  almost 
crawls  up  on  his  desk  in  his  anxiety  to  catch  the 
teacher’s  eye.  Julia  is  snapping  her  fingers,  jerking 


The  Junior  as  Revealed  in  Day  School  51 

and  even  groaning  unconsciously  as  she  tries  to  force 
herself  on  the  teacher’s  attention.  During  the  half  hour 
that  follows  eight  or  nine  of  the  children  seem  thus 
in  a  perpetual  ferment,  and  take  really  more  than  their 
share  of  the  discussion.  By  contrast,  five  or  six  more 
raise  their  hands  only  once  during  the  whole  period, 
and  not  more  than  two  of  them  are  called  upon.  Rita 
is  obviously  not  in  the  least  interested,  and  is  gazing 
dreamily  out  of  a  window.  Randolph  is  surreptitiously 
making  comic  sketches  and  passing  them  to  his  chum 
in  the  seat  in  front.  He  keeps  a  very  fair  semblance 
of  attention,  however,  and  the  teacher  might  never  have 
noticed  his  delightful  occupation  had  not  Charles  in  the 
next  seat  been  watching  so  interestedly  that  he  was 
twisted  halfway  round,  and  did  not  hear  his  name 
called.  Winifred  is  just  as  interested  really,  but  she 
prefers  to  act  Lady  Disdainful.  Though  she  is  secretly 
envious  of  Randolph’s  gift  of  striking  caricature  she 
would  not  acknowledge  that  what  he  draws  is  worth 
more  than  a  passing  glance.  By  the  very  toss  of  her 
head  she  gives  herself  away,  however.  Two  other  chil¬ 
dren  appear  perfectly  stolid,  and  give  very  halting 
replies  when  questioned.  Apparently  they  have  neither 
learned  anything  in  preparation  for  the  lesson  nor 
gained  anything  valuable  from  the  recitation.  When 
the  assignment  for  home  work  is  developed  out  of  a 
problematic  point  that  has  come  up  for  discussion  they 
seem  rather  dazed,  and  respond  very  sluggishly.  Guided 
by  the  teacher,  the  class  dictates  a  fair  summary  of 
the  answers  found  to  the  outlined  questions,  and  Mar¬ 
garet  very  efficiently  acts  as  secretary,  by  writing  this 


52  A  Study  of  the  Junior  Child 

summary  in  the  appropriate  place  on  the  blackboard. 

In  this  next  room  a  study  period  is  in  progress. 
Some  are  busy  with  arithmetical  examples,  others  have 
grammar  or  geography  books  open.  Look  at  Esther, 
laboriously  counting  on  her  fingers  and  screwing  up 
her  face  as  she  manipulates  the  number  combinations. 
Anna,  self-conscious  now  that  you  are  looking  at  her, 
is  making  a  great  show  of  turning  from  place  to  place 
in  her  grammar  and  importantly  writing  something  in 
a  notebook.  John  is  squirming  around,  scowling  and 
muttering  aloud  as  he  repeats  over  and  over  a  list  of 
geographical  names  he  is  trying  to  memorize.  Harold 
has  a  far-away  gaze.  Seemingly  absorbed  in  the  map 
on  the  wall  before  him,  could  you  see  into  the  workings 
of  his  mind  you  would  find  him  busy  living  through 
the  stirring  adventures  of  a  voyage  of  discovery,  per¬ 
haps,  or,  more  likely,  enacting  the  part  of  a  bold,  bad 
bandit  arranging  the  capture  and  ransom  of  belated 
and  lonesome  travelers.  Harold  never  gets  high  grades 
for  his  school  work,  and  invariably  postpones  the  neces¬ 
sary  preparation  as  long  as  possible.  The  teacher  fre¬ 
quently  complains  of  his  lack  of  application,  but  he 
has  learned  to  protect  himself  from  constant  reprimand 
and  accusation  of  inattention  by  assuming  an  air  of 
studious  quiet.  Then,  his  body  in  the  attitude  of  a 
good  and  diligent  pupil,  his  active  imagination  may  take 
to  itself  wings  and  soar  far  from  the  atmosphere  of  ink 
and  erasers.  He  is  not  stupid,  nor  lazy;  but  he  loathes 
arithmetic,  particularly  fractions,  he  sees  no  sense  in 
formal  grammar,  and  he  frankly  detests  the  constraint 
of  the  schoolroom.  For  him  the  blackboard  dissolves 


The  Junior  as  Revealed  in  Day  School  53 

into  a  transparent  screen  through  which  he  follows 
knights  in  armor  in  their  deeds  of  derring  do.  The  end 
of  the  study  period  finds  him  with  no  school  work 
accomplished,  but  in  a  fair  state  of  content,  since  no 
one  has  molested  him  with  absurd  conundrums  anent 
parsing. 

Now  they  all  pass  to  assembly.  Again  notice  how 
Morton  quietly  marshals  his  line  in  good  order,  check¬ 
ing  Randolph’s  mischievous  tendencies  and  Robert’s 
nervous  jostling.  Louise  reveals  a  remarkably  good 
piano  technique  as  she  plays  a  march.  Rita  could  play 
well,  too,  if  she  would  undertake  to  practice  more  regu¬ 
larly  ;  but  she  reads  music  so  quickly  and  easily  that  she 
rests  satisfied  with  finding  out  “how  it  goes,”  rather 
than  feels  any  desire  for  working  for  a  finished  result. 
No  compulsion  is  put  upon  her  at  home  to  do  things 
for  which  she  is  not  inclined.  Anna  and  Winifred 
manceuver  so  that  they  sit  together,  and  ostentatiously 
draw  away  from  John’s  clumsy  feet  as  he  all  but  trips 
over  Charles.  Adelaide  seems  alert  to  all  that  goes  on, 
but  Lawrence  still  wears  a  wooden  expression,  not 
lightening  when  even  Martin  is  interested — for  the  first 
time  today — as  an  eighth  grade  boy  describes  a  radio 
outfit  he  has  been  setting  up  in  his  home.  Esther 
relapses  into  stolidity  as  she  fails  to  follow  the  descrip¬ 
tion,  but  enjoys  herself  later  on  in  the  singing,  in 
which  she  joins  lustily.  Charles  endeavors  to  sing 
“bass,”  i.  e.,  an  octave  lower  than  the  right  pitch  for 
the  melody,  and  thereby  induces  an  attack  of  badly 
suppressed  giggles  in  Winifred  and  Anna.  Rita  and 
Harold  are  still  somewhat  absent  in  spirit,  though  tol- 


54  A  Study  of  the  Junior  Child 

erantly  present  in  body;  their  outward  deportment  is, 
however,  less  troublesome  to  the  teacher  than  that  of 
Julia,  who  fidgets  constantly,  or  Randolph,  who  is  a 
center  of  disturbance. 

When  school  is  dismissed  it  is  Adelaide  who  lingers 
for  perhaps  a  chance  word  with  Miss  Forrest  alone, 
or — wonderful  thought — even  an  invitation  to  walk 
part  way  home  with  her,  and  an  opportunity  to  carry 
her  books.  Miss  Forrest  comes  from  quite  another 
part  of  the  country,  and  her  different  accent  and  intona¬ 
tion  have  proved  so  intriguing  that  Adelaide  is  in  a 
fair  way  to  become  a  faithful  echo.  Both  she  and 
Alice  vie  with  each  other  in  efforts  for  the  deportment 
that  will  attract  an  approving  smile ;  and  there  was 
much  secret  heartburning  when  the  valentines  so  pains¬ 
takingly  prepared  by  each  did  not  win  apparently  equal 
appreciation.  Alan  is  really  quite  as  devoted  as  they 
are,  but  he  could  never  play  openly  for  notice,  nor  even 
condescend  to  be  gracious  in  manner.  When  he  is 
moved  to  acts  of  chivalry  he  protects  his  dignity  as 
an  eleven-year-old  male  by  a  gruffness  that  is  almost 
fearsome,  and  a  rudeness  that  would  repel  were  it  not 
understood  for  the  superficial  cloak  that  it  is.  After 
Miss  Forrest  had  called  at  his  home  and  shown  some 
interest  in  his  rabbits,  he  carefully  chose  the  most  prom¬ 
ising  young  one,  spent  two  days  constructing  a  special 
hutch  and  carrier  for  it,  then  presented  it  to  her  with 
a  most  grudging  manner  and  a  casual  remark  to  the 
effect  that  she  could  take  it  if  she  liked,  he  didn’t 
want  it  anyhow,  it  wasn’t  much  good,  and  rather  a 
nuisance  to  look  after. 


The  Junior  as  Revealed  in  Day  School  55 

Summary.  (1)  Character  growth  is  by  spurts, 
just  as  is  physical  growth,  as  we  shall  see  later.  Char¬ 
acter  is  made  up  of  so  many  habits  and  ideals  and 
attitudes.  Habits  are  specific  actions  in  response  to  dif¬ 
ferent  specific  chances  to  act.  Thus,  neatness  and  obe¬ 
dience  are  not  general  traits  of  character,  but  convenient 
abstract  terms  for  bundles  of  hundreds  of  specific  hab¬ 
its.  If  then  the  home  offers  ten  chances  to  act  in  a 
heat  way  and  the  school  offers  twenty  entirely  different 
chances,  we  can  understand  how  Adelaide  is  untidy  in 
the  opinion  of  one  person,  but  not  of  the  other.  If  the 
school  gives  half  a  dozen  ways  of  reacting  with  respon¬ 
sibility  and  the  Sunday  school  none,  the  difference  in 
Morton’s  behavior  may  be  explained.  Habits  of  reach¬ 
ing  must  be  made  general  by  providing  many  similar 
chances  to  act,  even  though  in  different  environments. 
Or  the  motive  behind  the  desired  reaction  must  be 
made  conscious,  called  on  frequently,  and  so  carried 
over  easily  to  serve  in  different  circumstances.  If  the 
real  motives  inspiring  the  numberless  separate  acts 
called  “courteous”  are  felt,  there  will  be  less  need  of 
teaching  each  of  such  separate  acts.  Feeling  the  motive 
will  lead  children  to  discover  appropriate  acts  for  them¬ 
selves.  Which  was  the  lack  in  Henry’s  case  probably? 

(2)  Children  generalize  poorly.  They  need  much 
guidance  in  seeing  any  but  superficial  relationships,  and 
in  organizing  their  thinking. 

(3)  Competition  is  keen.  If  restricted  to  the  quick, 
bright  pupils  the  slow,  dull  children  feel  hopelessly 
out  of  it. 

(4)  Children  are  busy  manipulating  something  all 


56  A  Study  of  the  Junior  Child 

the  time.  If  the  occupation  suggested  by  authority 
does  not  interest  them,  they  will  find  their  own.  Some 
manipulate  things  with  their  hands,  some  manipulate 
their  own  fancies,  some  manipulate  other  people  by  dis¬ 
play,  or  tricks.  There  is  no  such  thing  as  a  state  of 
inattention,  however,  though  teachers  frequently  com¬ 
plain  of  it. 

(5)  It  is  a  time  of  sex  antagonism  in  general.  Any 
slight  attraction  toward  one  of  the  same  age  is  dis¬ 
guised.  Attraction  to  an  older  person  may  be  open 
admiration  of  the  puppy-dog  type. 

(6)  Some  constantly  overstimulated,  possibly  neu¬ 
rotic  children  need,  more  than  anything  else,  training 
in  calm  self-control. 

For  Discussion 

1.  Mrs.  Smith  came  to  the  grade  superintendent 
when  her  son  first  came  to  the  Sunday  school  with  the 
request  that  he  be  placed  in  the  same  class  with  his 
friend  Bob,  who  was  also  in  the  same  grade  at  school. 
Is  Mrs.  Smith  justified?  Why,  or  why  not? 

2.  Mrs.  Kohl  complains  that  her  eleven-year-old  child 
is  in  the  same  class  as  her  neighbor,  who  is  only  nine, 
and  she  thinks  her  child  should  be  promoted  two  grades. 
What  would  you  say  to  Mrs.  Kohl  ? 

3.  What  results  came  from  the  fore-exercise?  What 
per  cent  of  the  replies  were  concrete  illustrations  ? 
(Example  of  concrete  illustration.  To  the  question, 
“What  is  salvation?”  the  reply,  “Salvation  Army.”  To 
the  question,  “What  is  pardon?”  the  reply,  “It’s  pardon 
when  you  say,  ‘Granted,’  when  some  one  begs  your 
pardon.”)  Were  any  explanations  in  terms  other  than 
actions  ?  Did  any  fall  back  on  an  explanation  they  may 
have  memorized?  Did  any  show  a  tendency  to  dwell 


The  Junior  as  Revealed  in  Day  School  57 

less  on  direct  cases,  or  narrow  illustrations,  and  more 
on  the  underlying  similarity  of  cases?  If  so,  was  it  the 
older  ones  who  thus  compared  relationships  ? 

4.  In  the  light  of  the  findings,  how  would  you  criti¬ 
cize  the  use  of  the  Beatitudes  as  memory  work  for  the 
second  year  Junior?  When  do  you  think  the  meanings 
involved  would  be  appreciated?  What  about  I  Corin¬ 
thians  XIII? 


CHAPTER  IV 


THE  CHANGING  BODY  AND  STANDARDS 

OF  STRENGTH 

Fore-Exercises 

1.  As  the  children  come  into  the  Junior  from  the 
Primary  Department,  which  look  bigger,  the  girls  or 
the  boys  ?  In  the  fourth  year  of  the  Department  which 
look  bigger? 

2.  In  your  visit  to  the  homes  of  your  pupils  what 
have  you  noted  about  the  following  points  that  is  of 
significance  to  their  physical  well-being? 

(a)  Hours  of  sleep. 

(b)  Probability  of  a  well-chosen  diet,  well-cooked 
food. 

(c)  Habits  of  consulting  the  dentist. 

( d )  Tendency  to  use  patent  medicines,  traditional 
remedies,  neighbors’  advice. 

(e)  General  sanitary  living,  ventilation,  bathing,  etc. 

3.  What  sort  of  physical  examination  is  given  to 
the  children  by  the  school  system  where  you  live  ? 
How  thorough  is  it?  How  often  is  it  given?  Are 
there  any  clinics  attached  to  the  school  system?  Do 
you  know  what  is  done  for  the  cardiac  cases  ?  For  the 
deaf?  For  the  tubercular? 

Various  ages. — Besides  the  chronological  age  of 
boys  and  girls  which  means  of  course  the  number  of 
years  and  months  they  have  lived,  we  need  to  know 
something  about  what  is  called  the  anatomical  age  and 
the  physiological  age.  The  former  refers  to  the 
physical  growth  actually  attained  by  any  child  as  re- 

58 


Changing  Body  and  Standards  of  Strength  59 

lated  to  the  norm  for  the  age  determined  by  measur¬ 
ing  many  thousand  children.  For  instance,  a  child 
may  be  chronologically  nine,  but  so  well-grown  that 
he  is  constantly  taken  for  over  ten.  A  radiograph 
of  the  hands  and  wrists  would  show  that  the  stage 
of  transformation  from  the  soft,  cartilage  tissue  into 
the  hard  bony  substance  was  more  like  that  of  the 
average  ten-and-a-half  child  of  the  same  sex  and  race ; 
if  a  careful  measurement  of  some  of  these  bones  showed 
the  same  advancement  we  should  call  the  child  ten 
and  a  half  anatomically,  though  he  is  only  nine  chrono¬ 
logically.  It  is  interesting  that  girls  show  a  greater 
anatomical  age  at  a  given  chronological  age  than  do 
boys ;  and  this  holds  true  even  in  the  case  of  such 
boy  and  girl  twins  as  have  been  thus  carefully  ex¬ 
amined. 

By  physiological  age  is  meant  the  stage  of  maturity 
reached  as  shown  by  changes  in  digestion,  in  the  erup¬ 
tion  of  teeth,  but  chiefly  in  the  functional  changes  of 
the  sex  organs.  Here  there  is  a  great  variability. 
Even  with  normally  grown  children  adolescence  does 
not  begin  at  the  same  chronological  age  by  any  means ; 
in  fact  two  children  both  eleven  years  old,  both  well 
developed  physically  otherwise,  may  be  as  much  as 
four  years  apart  physiologically.  We  do  find  that  tall 
girls  mature  earlier  than  those  who  are  short  for  their 
age,  though  of  the  girls  who  mature  early  not  all  are 
tall.  By  early,  is  meant  from  eleven  to  twelve  years 
old,  since  between  thirteen  and  fourteen  is  the  most 
frequent  age  for  girls  in  this  climate.  Nearly  seven 
per  cent  of  girls  begin  their  pubescent  changes  about 


60  A  Study  of  the  Junior  Child 

eleven,  and  nearly  eighteen  per  cent  more  before 
twelve  and  a  half.  In  a  class  of  fourth-year  Junior 
girls,  then,  ages  eleven  and  twelve,  you  might  expect 
one  out  of  every  five  to  have  had  her  first  menstrua¬ 
tion.  These  same  individuals  will  probably  have  be¬ 
gun  to  grow  much  faster  also ;  and,  what  is  not  so 
generally  known,  they  will  cease  this  rapid  increase 
and  reach  their  full  growth  earlier  than  girls  whose 
pubescence  comes  later.  Those  who  mature  later  con¬ 
tinue  their  spurt  of  growth  longer  and  do  not  reach 
their  full  adult  stature  until  they  are  further  on  in  the 
teens.  Precocity  is  not  at  all  a  sign  of  poor  health,  as 
is  popularly  believed ;  though,  naturally,  careful  hy¬ 
gienic  regulations  are  required  for  girls  at  this  time. 
Early  and  gradual  pubescence  seems  better  in  many 
ways  than  delayed  and  brief,  perhaps  violent,  develop¬ 
mental  changes  which  make  too  great  demands  on  the 
nervous  system,  the  glandular  system,  and  the  emo¬ 
tional  life. 

The  same  general  remarks  apply  to  boys,  except  that 
just  as  their  rapid  increase  in  height  and  weight  comes 
a  year  or  more  later  than  with  girls,  so  also  does  their 
maturation,  and  it  occupies  a  somewhat  longer  period. 
Though  a  very  few  begin  their  pubescent  changes  be¬ 
fore  eleven,  the  proportion  of  boys  doing  so  is  smaller. 
In  a  fourth-year  class  numbering  eight  members  you 
would  not  be  likely  to  find  even  one  boy  whose  proc¬ 
esses  of  maturing  were  clearly  evident. 

Recent  experimental  studies  show  us  that  the  physi¬ 
ological  age  and  mental  age  are  directly  related.  Those 
who  are  physiologically  accelerated  have  a  higher  men- 


Changing  Body  and  Standards  of  Strength  61 

tal  age,  involving  more  mature  attitudes  and  interests, 
than  those  of  average  age.  Not  only  that,  but  the 
physiologically  accelerated  can  do  school  work  better 
than  the  average  or  undeveloped  children,  so  that  if 
they  have  been  properly  classified  we  expect  to  find 
them  in  somewhat  higher  grades.  What  we  might 
call  the  social  age  is  also  directly  related  to  the  physio¬ 
logical  age,  the  less  well-developed  children  not  being 
able  to  make  the  same  social  adjustments  that  the  more 
mature  ones  can.  There  is,  further,  a  close  connection 
between  the  time  of  religious  awakenings  and  the 
physiological  age.  Girls  are,  in  general,  in  advance  of 
boys  in  the  last  two  years  of  the  Junior  Department  in 
all  these  lines,  physiologically,  mentally,  socially,  and 
in  religious  development. 

Weight  and  height. — Boys  of  nine  are  about  51 
inches  tall,  the  girls  very  slightly  less.  During  the 
years  from  nine  to  twelve  the  growth  in  height  is  by 
no  means  regular,  but  shows  periods  of  acceleration 
and  periods  of  retardation.  For  instance,  between  ten 
and  eleven  a  boy  adds  relatively  less  to  his  height  than 
in  the  preceding  year,  while  a  girl  had  her  period  of 
slower  growth  from  nine  to  ten.  By  twelve,  a  boy  is 
somewhere  about  55  inches  tall ;  but  the  girl  has  begun 
a  spurt  of  rapid  growth  which  will  continue  for  the 
next  two  or  three  years,  while  the  boy  lags  behind,  as 
it  were,  not  beginning  his  spurt  until  a  year  or  more 
later.  Thus,  comparing  both  at  twelve,  we  shall  find 
the  average  girl  taller  by  an  inch  than  the  average  boy. 
At  either  nine  or  twelve,  however,  we  can  prophesy 
who  are  going  to  be  tall  as  adults,  and  who  smaller 


62  A  Study  of  the  Junior  Child 

in  stature ;  for,  contrary  to  popular  opinion,  people  who 
are  short  as  children  do  not  make  up  for  it  by  growing 
into  tall  adults.  Tall  children  remain  relatively  tall, 
and  short  ones  relatively  short,  so  that  an  expert  can 
foretell  with  great  accuracy  by  considering  the  height 
of  a  child  of  nine,  how  tall  he  will  be  when  he  is  six¬ 
teen.  Again,  tall  children  start  their  period  of  spe¬ 
cially  rapid  growth  young  enough  to  reach  their  full 
stature  in  adolescence  actually  earlier  than  the  shorter 
children.  These  latter  begin  their  spurt  a  little  later, 
and  evidently  do  not  profit  by  it  so  much.  Of  course 
heredity  counts  here ;  tall  parents  are  more  likely  to 
have  tall  than  short  children.  Do  not  put  down  a 
child  as  undersized  unless  you  know  something  about 
the  parents’  stature.  Then,  too,  there  is  a  certain  vari¬ 
ability  to  be  allowed  for.  Though  the  average  girl  of 
twelve  may  measure  56  inches,  there  will  be  some  in 
a  crowd  of  them  as  short  as  53  inches,  and  some  as 
tall,  perhaps,  as  60  inches.  So  with  the  boys,  who  may 
range  from  52  to  59  inches  at  twelve.  On  the  whole, 
a  twelve-year-old  girl  has  attained  nearly  nine  tenths 
of  her  stature  as  an  adult.  Since  boys’  rapid  spurt 
starts  later,  and  since  they  are  eventually  taller  than 
most  women,  at  twelve  they  have  reached  only  about 
four  fifths  of  their  future  height  as  men.  Boys  show 
a  greater  variability  in  height  than  girls  at  every  age 
except  twelve. 

Since  the  body  is  enlarging  in  three  dimensions,  height 
cannot  be  considered  entirely  apart  from  girth  and 
weight.  Boys  and  girls  at  nine  tip  the  scales  at  about 
60  pounds.  Before  twelve  a  boy  will  have  put  on  ap- 


Changing  Body  and  Standards  of  Strength  63 


proximately  17  pounds,  bringing  him  up  to  rather  more 
than  half  his  adult  weight.  A  girl  is  more  precocious, 
and  at  twelve  is  likely  to  weigh  five  or  six  pounds  more 
than  a  boy  of  the  same  age,  averaging  83  pounds,  or 
about  two  thirds  of  her  adult  weight.  This  increase  does 
not  take  place  uniformly,  but  is  apt  to  alternate  with  a 
greater  gain  in  height.  It  seems  to  be  a  law  that  rapid 
growth  in  one  direction  is  accompanied  by  slow  growth 
in  another  ;  so  that  while  children  are  using  up  energy  in 
growing  tall  they  are  not  doing  much  in  the  way  of 
adding  to  their  weight.  So  true  is  this  that  they  look 
for  a  while  very  lean  and  stretched  out,  with  unduly 
long  legs  and  arms.  Later,  the  system  compensates 
itself  by  checking  its  rapidity  of  longitudinal  increase, 
and  by  adding  much  more  weight  in  proportion.  The 
stretching-out  process  involves  a  lengthening  of  the 
bones,  muscles,  nerves,  veins,  and  arteries,  everything 
in  the  end  to  end  measure  of  the  limbs.  There  again, 
one  sort  of  material  may  grow  faster  than  some  of  the 
others.  If  the  bones  race  ahead  of  the  muscles  which 
act  as  their  levers,  then  the  pull  on  the  latter  may  be¬ 
come  painful,  giving  rise  to  what  children  call  “grow¬ 
ing  pains,”  a  sort  of  cramp  from  the  tension  involved. 
Again,  if  the  muscles  increase  mostly  in  length  rather 
than  in  girth,  their  relative  strength  is  decreased,  and 
a  resulting  weakness  makes  itself  evident. 

As  these,  and  the  pubescent  changes  also  involve  dif¬ 
ferences  in  the  hip  and  pelvic  bones  it  is  no  wonder 
that  we  so  frequently  notice  awkwardness  in  gait  and 
carriage.  The  rapid  growth  of  the  arms  may  be  one 
cause  of  the  clumsy  movements  of  the  twelve-year-old, 


64 


A  Study  of  the  Junior  Child 


since  new  habits  of  muscle  coordination  must  be 
formed.  When  we  add  to  these  considerations  the 
fact  tha,t  the  disease  known  as  chorea,  or  more  popu¬ 
larly  St.  Vitus’  dance,  is  not  infrequent  between  ten 
and  twelve,  we  realize  that  much  may  be  forgiven  the 
rough,  ungraceful  child  because  of  irregularities  in 
growth. 

Many  nervous  ways  of  moving  are  common  at  this 
period — grimaces,  licking  the  lips,  fingering  the  face, 
biting  the  nails,  twirling  small  objects,  or  part  of  the 
clothing.  Generally  regarded  as  mere  restlessness,  they 
are  signs,  not  so  much  of  excess  energy  or  of  boredom, 
as  of  imperfectly  developed  motor  control.  In  some 
cases  they  indicate  real  fatigue,  and  if  excessive,  a 
medical  examination  should  be  given. 

On  the  whole  this  is  a  healthy  period,  the  best  years 
being  ten  and  eleven,  the  more  sickly  ones  nine  and 
twelve,  when  children  have  either  not  yet  outgrown 
earlier  delicacy  or  are  entering  upon  the  next  phase  of 
growth.  Though  we  may  look  for  the  usual  children’s 
diseases  they  are  less  often  fatal,  since  the  resistance  to 
disease  is  high,  culminating  at  twelve  for  girls,  a  little 
later  for  boys.  According  to  statistics  for  the  whole  of 
the  United  States,  the  most  frequent  cause  of  death 
during  these  ages,  except  for  tuberculosis,  is  not  illness 
at  all,  but  dififerent  forms  of  accidents. 

Other  measurements. — Not  only  in  standing 
height  but  in  sitting  height  girls  gain  a  greater  per  cent 
of  their  final  growth  at  twelve  years  than  do  boys.  So, 
too,  in  the  strength  of  the  arms  and  shoulder  muscles. 
But  since  women  are  shorter  and  not  so  strong  muscu- 


Changing  Body  and  Standards  of  Strength  65 

larly  as  men  on  the  average,  this  does  not  mean  that 
eleven  and  twelve-year-old  girls  are  actually  stronger 
in  the  arms  than  boys  of  the  same  age,  nor  should  they 
be  expected  to  lift  as  heavy  weights.  Boys  are  uni¬ 
formly  stronger  than  girls  at  every  age  in  strength  of 
grip.  Boys  are  superior,  too,  in  speed  of  movement  as 
measured  by  the  rate  at  which  they  can  tap  on  a  flat 
surface  with  an  instrument  like  a  stylus.  This  tapping 
rate  increases  with  age,  boys  showing  the  greatest  pro¬ 
portionate  increase  at  ten  years  old,  while  girls  at  the 
same  age  vary  more  among  themselves  than  at  other 
ages.  Both  in  strength  and  speed  the  great  majority 
of  children  are  right  handed.  In  accuracy  and  steadi¬ 
ness  of  controlled  movements  with  the  hands,  there  is 
a  marked  improvement  in  the  age  period  from  nine  to 
twelve,  boys  being  perhaps  slightly  superior  to  girls 
in  this.  You  recall  that  the  play  interests  of  this  period 
revealed  practice  of  all  sorts  of  feats  of  skill  which 
develop  speed,  strength  and  agility,  training  eye  and 
hand  together  in  many  instances. 

By  using  the  instrument  called  a  spirometer  we  can 
measure  lung  capacity  in  terms  of  the  largest  possible 
number  of  cubic  centimeters  of  air  contained  and  force¬ 
fully  expelled.  We  find  that  the  lungs  are  growing 
slowly  but  steadily  all  through  these  years.  In  this 
girls  are  inferior  to  boys  at  every  age,  having  only  about 
89  per  cent  of  the  “vital  capacity”  of  boys.  When  we 
consider  that  at  twelve  girls  are  actually  taller  and 
heavier  than  boys  we  realize  that  at  that  age  they  have 
a  comparatively  poorer  breathing  possibility  than  at 
ten.  The  ratio  of  lung  capacity  to  weight  is  termed 


66 


A  Study  of  the  Junior  Child 


the  “vital  index”  ;  so  that  after  eleven  girls  have  a  lower 
vital  index  as  compared  with  boys.  Whether 
this  is  in  part  explained  by  the  difference  be¬ 
tween  girls  and  boys  in  physical  activity  out  of  doors 
we  do  not  know ;  but  we  do  find  that  girls  who  live  in 
the  country  and  are  encouraged  to  exercise  in  the  open 
air  develop  a  vital  capacity  more  nearly  like  that  of 
boys,  and  consequently  a  higher  vital  index.  In  view 
of  the  fact  of  the  prevalence  of  anaemia  and  tubercu¬ 
losis  among  girls  later  in  the  teens  it  might  be  well  to 
encourage  any  training  that  will  increase  vital  capacity 
and  develop  good  breathing  habits. 

By  nine  years  old  children  have  their  second  set  of 
teeth  in  the  front  of  both  jaws.  Before  ten  the  two 
teeth  just  beyond  the  “eye”  teeth  on  each  side  are 
changing.  The  first  molars  beyond  these  are  only  too 
frequently  found  decayed  by  ten  or  eleven.  These 
teeth  make  their  appearance  when  the  child  is  about 
six  years  old  and  are  perhaps  neglected  if  the  parents 
think  they  are  the  last  of  the  first  set,  instead  of  the 
first  of  the  permanent  teeth,  as  is  really  the  case. 

During  these  years  children  require  about  sixty  per 
cent  of  the  food  ration  of  an  adult.  At  ten  years  the 
daily  food  value  should  approximate  1900  calories, 
about  30  calories  per  pound  of  body  weight.  Their  diet 
should  be  plain,  but  abundant,  and  bulky  rather  than 
concentrated,  since  they  seem  perennially  hungry.  As 
for  need  of  sleep,  some  authorities  recommend  ten  to 
twelve  hours ;  but  very  few  children,  as  shown  by  sta¬ 
tistical  returns  from  various  localities,  get  anything  like 
that  amount.  From  ten  hours  at  nine  years  old  to  seven 


Changing  Body  and  Standards  of  Strength  67 


and  a  half  hours  at  twelve  years  old  is  the  more  fre¬ 
quent  habit ;  but  the  variation  is  wide,  depending  on 
such  factors  as  city  or  country  life,  the  family  custom 
and  standards,  the  hours  of  meals  and  so  forth. 

Why  should  we  know  these  things?  One  reason  is 
that  we  have  a  duty  to  children  as  whole,  indivisible 
beings,  not  simply  to  that  aspect  of  them  which  we  term 
religious  development.  We  need  to  know  how  they 
live  at  home,  how  they  function  socially,  if  we  would 
help  them  live  Christ-like  lives.  If  by  ignorance  or 
carelessness  the  family  does  not  promote  the  well-being 
of  the  children  it  becomes  the  duty  and  privilege  of 
the  teacher  to  suggest  better  ways  of  living,  remedies 
if  need  be,  certainly  conservation  and  constructive  re¬ 
gime.  Secondly,  because  happy  social  living  depends 
upon  health  to  some  extent.  The  physical  and  the 
mental  are  so  interdependent  that  the  emotions,  the 
moods,  the  temperament  in  fact,  are  largely  influenced 
by  the  state  of  the  bodily  functions.  Emotions  in  turn 
influence  action,  and  so  take  part  in  habit-forming  and 
character-building.  Timely  attention  to  impacted  teeth 
relieved  a  boy  of  nervous  irritation  and  helped  trans¬ 
form  him  from  a  juvenile  delinquent  to  a  well-behaved 
citizen.  Thirdly,  unless  we  realize  the  general  possi¬ 
bilities  of  the  age  we  may  make  undue  demands  upon 
children’s  motor  control,  or  ability  to  sustain  attention. 
We  may  fail  to  make  allowance  for  a  stage  of  awk¬ 
wardness,  or  for  rapid  fatiguability,  or  for  a  state  of 
high  tension,  any  of  which  may  accompany  uneven  and 
rapid  growth.  If  this  is  true  for  children,  in  general 
it  is  even  more  true  in  an  individual  case.  Knowledge 


68 


A  Study  of  the  Junior  Child 


of  a  child’s  health  condition  or  of  a  permanent  handi¬ 
cap  may  help  to  explain  his  vagaries,  his  restlessness, 
his  moodiness,  his  poor  adjustment  in  loving  his  neigh¬ 
bor. 

For  Discussion 

1.  What  play  interests  that  you  noted  would  help 
account  for  the  facts  as  stated  about  death  rate  in  this 
age  period? 

2.  What  proportion  of  the  absences  from  Sunday 
school  is  reported  as  due  to  illness  ? 

3.  What  do  the  facts  given  suggest  as  to  the  wisdom 
of  the  practice  of  having  separate  classes  for  boys  and 
girls  in  the  Junior  Department? 

4.  Report  instances  of  a  high  degree  of  dexterity 
among  eleven-  and  twelve-year-olds. 

5.  What  would  you  think  of  a  ten-mile  hike  for 
eleven-year-old  boys  ? 

6.  Ask  all  your  pupils  what  time  they  went  to  bed 
and  what  time  they  got  up,  every  day  last  week.  Esti¬ 
mate  the  average  number  of  hours  of  sleep  each  had, 
allowing  one  hour  for  the  preparation  for  bed  and 
lying  awake. 

7.  How  many  have  had  tonsils  or  adenoids  removed  ? 
How  many  pay  regular  visits  to  the  dentist  ? 


CHAPTER  V 


THE  JUNIOR  IN  THE  WORLD  OF  READING 

Fore-Exercises 

\ 

1.  Ask  each  of  your  class  these  questions.  If  you 
have  no  class  then  try  to  reach  six  children,  three  boys 
and  three  girls  between  nine  and  twelve  years  old.  (a) 
Do  you  take  books  from  the  public  library?  (b)  If 
so,  how  often?  (c)  What  was  the  name  of  your  last 
book?  ( d )  Why  did  you  take  it?  (e)  How  did  you 
like  it?  (/)  If  you  were  taken  to  a  bookstore  and  told 
that  you  might  choose  just  one  book  for  your  own, 
what  would  you  select  ? 

2.  If  you  can,  pay  a  visit  to  the  public  library  and 
talk  to  the  children’s  room  librarian.  Ask  her  (a)  what 
magazines  the  children  specially  like,  ( b )  what  differ¬ 
ence  she  finds  between  boys  and  girls  in  their  reading 
tastes,  (c)  who  are  the  most  popular  authors,  ( d ) 
which  books  wear  out  the  most  quickly.  Bring  the  re¬ 
sults  of  both  these  exercises  to  class. 

When  Junior  boys  and  girls  are  not  engaged  in  active 
play — when  an  unwonted  quiet  makes  you  wonder  if 
they  have  disappeared  altogether,  or  if  they  are  asleep, 
or  if  unusual  mischief  is  brewing — what  are  they  to 
be  found  doing?  This  takes  no*  long  thought  to 
answer;  the  chances  are  you  will  find  them  curled  up 
over  a  book.  A  wonderful  gift  from  the  work  of  the 
primary  grades  is  this  ability  to  read.  Henceforward 
the  wonderland  of  literature  is  theirs  for  the  simple 

69 


70  A  Study  of  the  Junior  Child 

labor  of  taking  down  a  volume  from  the  shelf.  No 
longer  are  they  compelled  to  wait  upon  the  art  of  the 
oral  story  teller.  No  longer  need  they  press  an  uncer¬ 
tain  adult  with  questions  for  needed  knowledge.  No 
longer  must  they  guess  at  most  of  the  contents  of  books 
from  such  pictures  as  an  illustrator  has  provided. 
With  the  key  to  the  printed  page  in  their  possession 
they  can  now  unlock  the  gate  to  the  paradise  of  books, 
finding  therein  many  a  pleasant-tasting  fruit. 

Kinds  of  books. — What  sort  of  books  are  they 
enjoying  so  avidly?  And  what  is  it  about  the  books 
that  is  the  real  attraction?  Do  nine-year-olds  and 
twelve-year-olds  read  the  same  volumes  ?  Do  boys  and 
girls  display  the  same  tastes? 

'  The  first  of  these  problems  is  the  easiest  to  solve ;  for 
we  have  only  to  tabulate  the  books  actually  found  to 
be  favorites,  and  classify  them,  to  arrive  at  an  answer. 
Undoubtedly,  two  thirds  to  three  fourths  of  all  the 
reading  Juniors  do  is  fiction.  A  book  means  “  a  story” 
to  them,  in  other  words,  something  that  appeals  to  the 
imagination.  Practically  all  the  reading  of  the  nine- 
year-olds  is  of  the  type  known  to  the  librarian  as  “juve¬ 
niles.”  Later  we  find  history  and  biography  added, 
also  books  of  travel,  of  science,  those  descriptive  of 
industrial  processes,  and  last  of  all  poetry,  but  in  small 
proportion  compared  to  the  books  of  fiction.  Miss 
Josephine  Baldwin  in  asking  children  'to  vote  for 
the  books  they  liked  best  found  that  2419  choices  out 
of  3417,  or  about  seventy  per  cent,  were  for  fiction, 
also  that  1007  different  books  were  mentioned.  Com¬ 
pare  the  results  of  these  questions  you  have  put  to 


The  Junior  in  the  World  of  Reading  71 

your  half  dozen  Juniors,  and  see  if  they  are  not  simi¬ 
lar.  Series  such  as  the  “Rover  Boys,”  the  “Twin" 
books,  the  Scout  Manuals  are  greatly  in  demand.  Titles 
frequently  given  by  the  younger  children  are  “Black 
Beauty,”  “Alice  in  Wonderland,”  “Gulliver’s  Travels.” 
Magazines  frequently  asked  for  are  The  American  Boy, 
The  Youth’s  Companion,  St.  Nicholas,  but  not  any  more 
often  these  specially  designed  for  children  and  young 
people  than  some  others  catering  to  older  tastes  pri¬ 
marily,  such  as  The  Strand,  Saturday  Evening  Post, 
All  Story  Magazine,  The  Red  Book. 

Roughly,  then,  it  would  look  as  though  books  of  ad¬ 
venture  were  especially  sought  after,  those  with  some 
magic  or  impossible  element  in  them,  some  humor, 
stories  of  family,  school  and  college  life,  stories  also  * 
in  which  animals  figure,  stories  of  exploration,  of  war 
and  fighting.  But  books  of  description,  biography  and 
letters,  character  studies,  lyric  poetry,  essays,  exhorta¬ 
tions,  are  not  interesting  to  them  sometimes  they  are 
even  repulsive  and  boring.  Novels  of  the  rapid-moving 
“Rupert  of  Hentzau”  type  are  enjoyed  for  the  thrills  as 
much  as  for  anything  else ;  but  as  a  rule  it  is  only 
the  more  precocious  older  girls  who  read  novels  as 
such. 

Let  us  analyze  a  little  further,  and  see  what  the 
younger  ones  prefer. 

Fourth-grade  preferences. — If  we  test  as  to 
which  selection  in  the  previous  year’s  school  reader 
fourth-grade  children  remember  and  like  best  we  find 
stories  about  animals,  stories  about  children  and  fairy 
tales  leading.  Stories  of  travel,  what  to  the  adult  are 


72  A  Study  of  the  Junior  Child 

humorous  stories,  and  poetry  are  hardly  ever  men¬ 
tioned.  About  thirty  per  cent  of  the  children  give  as 
the  reason  they  like  this,  that,  or  the  other,  that  it  is 
“true  to  life” ;  others  say  vaguely  that  it  is  “beautiful,” 
“interesting,”  showing  that  nine-  to  ten-year-olds  are 
not  very  articulate  critics  even  though  they  may  be 
very  decided  in  their  preferences. 

Of  course,  the  type  of  selection  put  into  the  earlier 
readers  was  chosen  by  adults  who,  curiously  enough, 
are  not  correct  judges  of  children’s  tastes.  Besides, 
many  selections  were  included  merely  to  provide  drill 
in  word  recognition  and  in  phonetics  rather  than  with 
the  supposition  that  they  had  an  interest  value  for  little 
readers.  Studies  of  the  contents  of  the  reading  texts 
of  the  early  grades  show  that  over  one  half  of  all  the 
selections  are  poetry,  about  twenty-two  per  cent  fairy 
tales,  eight  per  cent  fables,  three  per  cent  biography  and 
history  stories,  the  same  for  legend  and  myth,  eleven 
per  cent  miscellaneous  stories,  the  remainder  a  scatter¬ 
ing  of  nature  study,  geographical  information  and  Bible 
stories.  But  even  though  various  series  of  readers 
provide  the  same  general  class  of  reading  matter,  very 
few  of  them  include  the  same  stories,  or  fables,  or  even 
the  same  Mother  Goose  rhymes,  showing  that  there  has 
been  very  little  agreement  as  to  what  actual  selections 
are  valuable  as  literary  experiences  for  young  children. 
In  an  exhaustive  cataloguing  of  twenty-two  complete 
series  of  readers  containing  4,000  titles  altogether, 
2,500  of  these  occurred  only  once.  Just  twelve  titles 
were  found  in  common  in  as  many  as  two  thirds  of  the 
readers  indexed. 


The  Junior  in  the  World  of  Reading  73 

So  far  as  school  training  is  concerned,  then,  it  will 
depend,  on  what  series  of  readers  is  in  use  in  the  par¬ 
ticular  school  a  child  attends,  as  to  how  his  reading 
tastes  have  been  formed  by  the  time  he  is  nine  years 
old.  And  do  not  let  us  forget  that  the  school  training 
is  all  the  reading  experience  some  children  have.  Since 
1905,  at  least,  there  has  been  very  little  in  any  school 
reader  of  a  purely  informational  character,  either  of  , 
nature  study,  easy  science,  geography  and  history,  and 
next  to  nothing  suggesting  things  children  could  make 
or  could  play  at,  or  could  do.  It  has  been  assumed, 
whether  justifiably  or  not,  that  metric  verse  and  stories 
would  be  interesting  to  young  children ;  so  almost  noth¬ 
ing  else  has  been  included  in  the  last*  fifteen  years  or 
more  except  these  two  classes  of  material. 

The  second  problem  suggested  above,  namely,  what 
are  the  elements  which  will  prove  the  real  attraction, 
deserves  more  careful  consideration.  Obviously,  if 
children  vote  that  they  like  a  story  because  it  is  "nice,” 
we  cannot  tell  whether  the  preference  is  due  to  the 
presence  in  it  of  a  decided  plot,  or  of  repetition,  or 
of  liveliness,  or  of  surprise,  or  whether  with  or  with¬ 
out  much  of  a  plot  because  it  was  about  children,  or 
animals,  or  magic.  Miss  Fannie  Dunn,  by  means  of  a 
technical  procedure,  too  intricate  in  its  details  to  be 
described  here,  has  succeeded  in  isolating  several  fac¬ 
tors  entering  into  stories  children  said  they  liked.  In¬ 
stead  of  considering  simply  the  general  interest,  twenty 
different  contributing  factors  were  analyzed,  for  in¬ 
stance,  fancifulness,  plot,  surprise,  direct  conversation, 
humor,  liveliness,  verse  form,  familiar  experience,  and 


74 


A  Study  of  the  Junior  Child 


so  on.  In  addition,  she  has  been  able  to  find  which  ele¬ 
ments  appeal  to  boys  of  nine  and  ten,  and  which  to 
girls.  Unquestionably,  stories  which  have  surprise,  and 
which  have  a  definite  plot,  are  liked.  Apparently,  also, 
“narrativeness”  and  liveliness  are  important  constitu¬ 
ents.  Stories  with  animal  or  children  heroes  are 
attractive ;  but  a  narrative  without  these  other  elements 
fails  of  effect,  and  liveliness  in  itself  is  not  a  vital  factor, 
it  must  be  linked  with  plot  and  surprise.  Boys  of  nine 
like  stories  with  either  adults  or  child  characters  as 
heroes,  and  very  decidedly  demand  a  plot  in  the  tale. 
Girls  are  less  fond  of  animal  stories  than  boys,  but  are 
more  keen  on  details  that  recall  their  own  experience  in 
home  life;  they  like  stories  about  girl  characters.  Boys 
rather  dislike  much  direct  conversation  reported, 
whereas  it  seems  a  matter  of  indifference  to  girls.  For 
both  boys  and  girls,  “moralness”  has  no  effect  one  way 
or  the  other.  Neither  boys  or  girls  at  this  age  like  poetry 
for  either  the  elements  of  verse  form  or  for  that  vague 
thing  called  poeticalness ;  poetry,  in  fact,  seems  rather 
repellent  to  them.  So  does  also  the  kind  of  humor  adults 
enjoy.  After  all,  to  appreciate  humor  means  that  one 
is  able  to  see  the  fitness  of  things,  to  see  the  relationships 
in  some  abstract  way,  very  often,  so  as  to  recognize 
the  presence  of  the  peculiar  incongruity  in  that  rela¬ 
tionship  which  is  termed  amusing,  witty,  ludicrous,  and 
so  forth.  Since  children  see  relationships  in  only  a 
piecemeal  fashion  it  follows  that  the  higher  type  of 
humor  cannot  be  grasped  by  them.  While  they  see 
only  the  big,  crude  outlines  of  relationships  rather  than 
the  fine  details,  it  follows  that  only  humor  of  the 


The  Junior  in  the  World  of  Reading  75 

broadest  type  will  appeal.  As  they  have  but  dim  com¬ 
prehension  of  abstractions,  it  follows  that  a  situation, 
to  seem  funny  to  them,  must  be  concrete.  Thus,  an 
erstwhile  dignified  person  comporting  himself  violently 
as  he  chases  a  wind-blown  hat,  or  loses  his  balance  on 
an  icy  sidewalk  is  comic  to  them ;  but  the  finer  points  in 
a  narrative  are  unintelligible,  and  consequently  tiresome. 
Notice  the  slapstick  comedy  at  which  they  laugh  in  the 
moving-picture  houses,  and  the  reluctance  and  uncer¬ 
tainty  with  which  they  join  in  the  adult’s  appreciation 
of  some  fine  points  of  a  joke.  Thus,  ordinary  adults’ 
judgments  of  what  will  prove  amusing  for  boys  and 
girls  in  the  first  and  second  years  of  the  Junior  Depart¬ 
ment  are  likely  to  be  quite  wrong.  Experiment  proves, 
in  fact,  that  such  judgments  are  of  little  value,  even 
in  the  case  of  experienced  teachers.  The  only  way  to 
find  out  is  to  take  the  children’s  own  testimony. 

Some  of  these  results  should  make  us  wary  in  select¬ 
ing  stories  to  tell  our  younger  Junior  children.  Evi¬ 
dently  we  may  fail  to  estimate  aright  the  true  interest 
value  of  a  tale.  Some  features  owe  their  significance 
to  the  fact  that  they  are  interwoven  with  other  very 
positive  attractions.  A  bit  of  verse  may  be  a  favorite 
because  it  has  a  good  plot,  and  is  about  animals.  The 
apparently  humorous  selection  may  be  enjoyed  because 
it  has  elements  of  surprise,  and  deals  with  child  charac¬ 
ters.  The  missionary  talk  may  fail  to  hold  attention 
because  it  is  lengthy,  generalized  description  without 
any  semblance  of  a  plot,  or  because  it  points  a  moral 
without  being  relieved  by  liveliness.  The  girls  may 
react  favorably  when  a  story  deals  with  familiar  home 


76  A  Study  of  the  Junior  Child 

experiences,  whereas  the  boys  are  bored  since  it  lacks 
adventure  and  reports  much  conversation. 

Younger  and  older  Juniors. — Fairy  stories  are  a 
delightful  prod  to  girls’  imaginations  up  to  about  ten 
years  old,  though  most  boys  have  satisfied  their  desire 
for  the  miraculous  and  the  impossible  from  different 
sources  by  at  least  nine.  For  both,  there  is  a  much 
better  sense  of  time  after  ten  years  old.  That  is  to 
say,  whereas  a  Primary  child  cannot  grasp  the  fact  of 
centuries  intervening  between  baby  Moses  and  Babv 
Jesus,  and  accepts  stories  of  Elijah  and  of  George 
Washington  equally  as  happening  “once  upon  a  time,” 
usually  after  ten  the  stretches  of  the  past  begin  to  take 
on  a  perspective,  so  that  characters  and  events  are 
apprehended  in  better  time  relationship.  So  we  find 
that  history  is  read  more  for  the  chronological  sequence 
than  for  the  collection  of  tales  it  has  been  heretofore. 
Greek  heroes  are  realized  as  dating  further  back  than 
the  knights  of  the  Round  Table,  who  again  antedate 
the  crusaders,  or  the  early  settlers  of  Virginia.  To  be 
sure,  political  and  industrial  developments  are  not 
grasped — people  and  their  ways  are  just  interestingly 
different.  Perhaps  Caesar  should  have  taken  a  train 
over  the  Alps,  and  the  Pilgrim  Fathers  evidently  never 
thought  of  cabling  their  arrival.  But  pity  for  their 
backwardness  is  swallowed  up  in  admiration  for  the 
hero  who  had  adventures.  Daniel  Boone,  Robin  Hood, 
Lincoln,  Joshua,  David,  catch  the  fancy  because  of 
what  they  did  rather  than  for  what  they  were  as  noble 
characters.  At  this  period  in  the  fifth,  sixth  and  sev¬ 
enth  grades  children  are  studying  history  in  school ;  and 


The  Junior  in  the  World  of  Reading  77 

a  wise  teacher  will  so  collaborate  with  the  town  libra¬ 
rian  that  the  latter  has  ready  in  tempting  display  his¬ 
torical  tales  that  will  help  vivify  and  enlarge  the  back¬ 
ground.  It  is  now  that  most  boys  and  girls  make  ac¬ 
quaintance  with  Fenimore  Cooper  and  Walter  Scott. 
Joseph  Altscheler’s  titles,  such  as  “The  Border  Watch,” 
“Hunters  of  the  Hills,”  “Masters  of  the  Peaks,” 
“Scouts  of  the  Valley,”  “The  Last  of  the  Chiefs,”  and, 
more  recently,  “Guns  of  Europe,”  bear  witness  to  the 
historical  setting  as  well  as  to  the  outdoor  adventure 
which  explains  in  part  the  fascination  of  his  books. 
The  tendency  to  worship  as  hero  the  big,  strong  boy, 
shows  also  why  stories  of  boy  prowess  at  school  and 
college  athletics  are  such  favorites  in  spite  of — to  the 
adult  woman — endless  technical  detail  of  who  got  which 
ball,  where  it  went  and  who  caught  it.  Ask  your  older 
Juniors  if  they  have  read  Heyliger’s  “Bucking  the 
Line,”  “Against  Odds,”  “Captain  of  the  Nine,”  et 
cetera,  and  see  what  sort  of  enthusiasm  you  will  arouse. 
Girls  are  interested  in  boys’  stories  too,  but  also  in 
stories  about  girls,  and  girl  life  in  boarding  school ;  but 
boys  would  howl  with  derision  at  the  suggestion  that 
they  read  a  girl’s  book. 

Tales  of  battle,  murder,  and  sudden  death  are  excit¬ 
ing.  The  torture  chambers  of  the  Inquisition  are  allur¬ 
ing  rather  than  revolting.  There  is  much  poring  over 
grisly  details  of  carnage  and  cruelty,  a  real  exultation 
and  thrill  at  gruesome  horrors  rather  than  any  shrink¬ 
ing  from  picturing  the  suffering  involved.  The  sympa¬ 
thetic  imagination  is  with  the  active,  not  the  passive 
participant  in  these  scenes,  with  a  vivid  joy  in  the 


78  A  Study  of  the  Junior  Child 

power  portrayed.  It  is  not,  as  might  be  supposed,  a 
morbid  fancy,  except  in  rare  cases. 

Another  interest  stimulated  somewhat  by  the  subject 
matter  of  the  school  curriculum  is  that  of  geography, 
in  the  sense  of  this  earth  as  man’s  home.  Child  life 
of  to-day  in  other  lands,  as  described  in  the  various 
books  of  the  “Twins”  series  by  Lucy  Fitch  Perkins,  is 
fascinating  to  children  of  the  fourth  and  fifth  grades. 
More  of  the  older  girls  than  boys  read  these,  the  latter 
preferring  tales  of  pirates,  treasure  seekers,  pioneers, 
explorers,  in  their  enlarged  idea  of  varied  world  ac¬ 
tivities. 

Among  other  changes  after  ten  or  eleven  we  find  a 
slow-growing  liking  for  some  of  the  poetry  of  Whittier, 
Longfellow,  Eugene  Field,  James  Whitcomb  Riley,,  and 
Robert  Louis  Stevenson.  There  again,  it  is  rare  to  find 
a  child  reading  even  narrative  poetry  unless  directly 
stimulated  thereto  by  the  experiences  of  school.  Plays 
are  asked  for  in  the  library,  such  as  they  could  use  in 
their  own  dramatic  enterprises,  rather  than  drama  for 
its  own  sake.  “Pieces  to  speak”  are  also  in  demand, 
since  declamations  are  frequently  included  in  the  cele¬ 
bration  of  festivals.  Girls  are  more  likely  than  boys  to 
choose  verse  for  these  occasions,  while  the  latter  may 
want  heroic  speeches  to  use  in  character.  Requests  for 
collections  of  conundrums,  puns,  mystery  writings,  code 
systems,  evidence  the  greatly  increased  interest  in  lan¬ 
guage,  which  enables  them  to  appreciate  plays  upon 
words  and  puzzles. 

Other  sex  differences. — It  is  noticeable  that  boys 
of  eleven  and  twelve  read  with  avidity  such  magazines 


The  Junior  in  the  World  of  Reading  79 

as  Popular  Mechanics,  whereas  girls  seldom,  if  ever, 
find  that  sort  of  thing  attractive.  Boys’  constructive 
activities  run  more  to  carpentry,  girls’  to  sewing.  The 
young  experimenter  with  wireless,  with  dynamics,  suc¬ 
tion  pumps,  pulleys,  levers  and  so  forth,  is,  ninety- 
nine  times  out  of  a  hundred,  a  boy  and  not  a  girl ;  so, 
naturally,  books  and  papers  which  will  explain,  describe, 
suggest  or  inspire  are  very  welcome  and  are  eagerly 
sought  for.  Descriptions  of  industrial  processes  are 
read  more  by  older  boys  than  by  older  girls,  unless  both 
are  required  to  study  about  them  in  connection  with 
some  school  project.  Girls  read  less  history,  on  the 
whole,  preferring  the  history  story.  Toward  the  end 
of  the  Junior  period  some  few  girls  no  longer  object 
to  the  love  element  as  a  finale  to-  a  story.  They  no 
longer  dismiss  the  courtship  and  proposal  as  the  stereo¬ 
typed  ending  to  a  fairy  tale  where  the  hero  weds  the 
princess  and  both  “live  happily  ever  after,”  but  begin 
to  thrill  to  more  details  for  the  sake  of  the  romance 
in  itself.  Indeed,  some  more  mature-minded  girls  ask 
for  love  stories  and  novels  at  twelve  years  of  age,  and 
do  not  a  little  inventing  of  their  own  along  those  lines. 

Guiding  these  interests.  —  One  function  the 
Sunday-school  library — if  such  exists — can  serve,  is 
not  only  to  supply  teachers  and  pupils  alike  with  books 
of  reference,  but  to-do  constructive  work  along  the  line 
of  forming  the  taste  in  reading  of  the  lighter  kind.  To 
do  this,  we  must  undoubtedly  take  account  of  the  ele¬ 
ments  in  fiction  that  are  naturally  appealing  at  this 
age,  and  then  see  that  the  trashier  sort  of  books  which 
appeal  in  a  cheap  way  and  lead  on  to  nothing  further 


80  A  Study  of  the  Junior  Child 

find  no  place  on  the  shelves.  Those  we  include  must 
possess  the  thrill  of  adventure,  or  deal  with  situations 
in  family  and  school  life,  or  introduce  the  reader  to 
other  lands  and  other  times,  or  foster  the  interest  in 
birds  and  animals  and  love  of  nature  generally.  The 
ideals  actuating  the  characters  are  better  expressed  by 
what  they  do  than  by  moralizing  about  them.  Authors 
that  have  stood  the  test,  are  such  as  Alcott,  Ewing, 
Hawthorne,  Kipling,  Kingsley,  Malory,  Mark  Twain, 
Ruskin,  Sewell,  Stevenson,  Jules  Verne.  For  current 
fiction  it  would  be  wise  to  apply  for  an  approved  list 
to  such  places  as  your  denominational  headquarters,  or 
to  the  Federation  of  Child  Study  with  its  head  office 
in  New  York  City,  but  with  local  chapters  in  several 
other  cities.  A  committee  publishes  annually  a  list  of 
new  books  which  it  would  recommend  for  children’s 
reading.  Besides  these,  fairy  tales  for  the  younger 
ones,  source  books  of  information  for  the  questing 
young  scientist  and  the  aspiring  artisan  must  find  room. 
“The  Child’s  Book  of  Knowledge”  alone  would  be  a 
much  beloved  storehouse. 

For  Discussion 

1.  Would  Juniors  be  interested  in  the  story  of 
Esther?  If  so,  what  are  the  elements  in  it  that  prob¬ 
ably  make  the  appeal? 

2.  Which  of  each  pair  of  characters  would  be  more 
attractive  to  Juniors?  Why?  Isaac  or  Jacob;  Ezra 
or  Nehemiah;  Peter  or  John;  Cromwell  or  William 
Penn;  William  Carey  or  Adoniram  Judson. 

3.  What  is  it  about  the  life  of  David  that  Juniors 
enjoy  ? 


The  Junior  in  the  World  of  Reading  81 

4.  What  incidents  in  the  life  of  Paul  would  be  ap¬ 
pealing  to  third  and  fourth  year  Juniors? 

5.  What  is  the  best  way  to  find  out  if  your  judgment 
in  answering  the  above  is  good? 

6.  Ten-year-old  Dorothy  was  found  deep  in  Milton’s 
“Paradise  Lost.”  What  do  you  think  was  the  interest  in 
it  for  her? 

7.  Eleven-year-old  Randolph  has  read  four  out  of 
five  volumes  of  general  history  in  his  father’s  library. 
Is  that  unusual  ?  Can  you  match  that  by  another  in¬ 
stance  ? 

8.  Next  time  Juniors  are  inattentive  when  a  “talk"  is 
being  given,  try  to  analyze  the  story  or  talk  to  see  what 
elements  it  lacks  which  Juniors  like,  and  what  it  over¬ 
emphasizes  which  they  do  not  appreciate. 

9.  Study  the  method  by  which  your  lesson  system 
presents  the  life  of  Christ  to  Juniors,  compared  with 
the  way  it  presents  the  same  to  Intermediates.  Why 
the  difference?  Do  you  think  the  emphasis  is  put  on 
those  things  which  Juniors  naturally  appreciate? 


CHAPTER  VI 


NEW  CAPACITY  FOR  DECISION 
Fore-Exercises 

1.  Write  down  what  you  consider  the  characteristics 
of  a  “weak-willed”  person — of  a  “strong-willed”  per¬ 
son.  Bring  the  list  of  characteristics  to  class  and  com¬ 
pare  with  what  others  have  written.  How  far  do  the 
lists  agree  ? 

2.  Do  you  think  the  stubborn,  obstinate  child  of  four 
or  five  will  develop  into  a  strong  or  a  weak  individual 
volitionally  ? 

Independence,  initiative,  or  self-will? — Why  is  it 

that  to  the  popular  mind  the  very  personification  of 
impishness,  defiance  and  deviltry  generally  is  to  be 
found  in  the  ten-or  eleven-year-old  boy?  Why  is  it 
that  authors  and  caricaturists  alike  use  him  as  a  sym¬ 
bol  for  trouble  maker,  and  mischievous  law  breaker? 
Is  there  any  justification  for  so  widespread  an  opinion? 
And  is  the  boy  at  this  time  so  very  different  from  the 
girl  that  he  alone  deserves  these  epithets?  There  is 
some  foundation  for  this  prevalent  opinion.  Let  us 
see  what  are  some  of  the  detailed  reasons  therefor. 

As  was  indicated  in  Chapter  III,  children  are 
much  more  independent,  physically  at  least,  of 
home  ties  at  this  age  than  ever  before.  If  need  be 
they  can  procure  food  and  shelter  for  themselves,  by 
primitive  methods,  so  that  even  for  these  necessities 
home  is  not  absolutely  indispensable.  As  the  horizon 

82 


New  Capacity  for  Decision 


83 


of  possibility  widens,  the  doings  and  the  sayings  of 
others  of  like  age  become  increasingly  potent  in  shap¬ 
ing  the  conduct  and  the  thinking  of  the  individual  boy 
and  girl.  In  the  gang  or  the  set  the  restlessness  of 
one  member  finds  an  echo.  Manners  called  bad  in  the 
family  circle  are  the  common  mode  of  this  group.  Im¬ 
pulses  to  noisiness,  to  fighting  for  one’s  own,  to  lawless¬ 
ness  in  general  are  more  or  less  restrained  in  the  home ; 
but  they  find  free  expression  when  joined  to  similar  de¬ 
sires  felt  by  the  rest  of  the  crowd,  so  that  the  mob 
dares  to  do  what  the  individual  might  hesitate  to  under¬ 
take. 

And  what  are  some  of  these  impulses?  To  quote 
from  Joseph  Lee:1  “There  is  the  great  commandment 
.  .  .  Thou  shalt  assert  thyself.  The  child’s  creative 
life  .  .  .  has  boiled  up  to  the  surface  .  .  .  and  set 
forth  upon  the  conquest  of  the  world."  He  must  some¬ 
how  be  a  cause,  of  noise  assuredly,  of  having  things 
happen,  of  making  things  move,  of  getting  other  people 
to  react  in  sudden  and  forceful  ways,  if  comic,  so  much 
the  better.  If  these  desires  make  trouble  for  older 
folks,  it  surely  is  not  the  child’s  fault.  Why  do  grown¬ 
ups  find  so  many,  many  things  inconvenient  or  tire¬ 
some,  and  why  do  they  label  these  things  as  wrong? 
Let  us  remember,  too,  that  the  Junior’s  sense 
of  ownership,  or  of  property  rights,  is  but  rudimentary  ; 
that  in  this  boiling  over  into  action  of  his  creative  life 
many  objects  must  be  experimented  with,  regardless  of 
who  lays  claim  to  possession  of  the  said  objects. 

Further,  let  us  remember  that  this  is  a  healthy,  al- 


1  “Play  in  Education.”  Page  239. 


84 


A  Study  of  the  Junior  Child 


most  rudely  healthy  period  of  childhood,  the  weak¬ 
nesses  of  the  earlier  period  outgrown,  the  crises  of  ad¬ 
olescence  not  yet  at  hand.  With  increasing  vitality  and 
endurance  and  great  immunity  from  disease,  a  child 
must  find  outlet  for  the  surge  of  physical  well-being 
within.  He  must  do  and  dare,  he  must  spend  long 
hours  in  the  swimming  hole,  he  must  climb  the  parapet 
of  the  bridge,  swing  ofif  the  higher  boughs  of  the  tree, 
coast  down  the  roughest  slide  available.  Is  there  dan¬ 
ger  in  these  activities  ?  So  much  the  better — it  is  more 
of  a  sport  and  calls  for  so  much  more  chance  of  self- 
assertion  against  difficulty.  Is  there  a  prohibition  so¬ 
cially?'  So  much  the  more  exciting  and  lively  does  the 
issue  become.  There  will  be  the  delight  of  measuring 
wits,  of  inciting  pursuit,  of  evading  detection,  the  only 
shame  being  to  be  found  out  or  to  be  so  slow  that  one  is 
caught.  And  since  others  of  like  mind  are  engaged 
in  the  same  pursuits  it  is  evident  that  not  only  will  the 
fun  be  fast  and  furious,  it  will  also  be  highly  competi¬ 
tive.  In  the  mutual  boiling  and  seething  of  the  group 
some  one  must  come  to  the  top.  He  who  thus  wins  his 
way  does  it  by  force,  not  of  ethical  beauty,  but  of  sheer 
power  of  domination,  even  to  fighting  every  other  boy 
who  aspires  to  authority. 

Above  all,  leader  and  followers  alike  must  be  valiant 
in  the  fray,  quick  with  taunts  and  fists,  ready  in  self- 
defense  and  pleasantly  aggressive  likewise.  Both  dan¬ 
ger  and  pain  must  be  held  of  little  account.  He  who 
for  these  causes  shrinks  from  difficult  enterprise 
quickly  finds  a  choice  before  him  of  facing  them,  or  of 
facing  the  danger  of  contempt  and  the  pain  of  jeers. 


New  Capacity  for  Decision 


85 


Cowardice  is  a  fault  most  scorned ;  and  the  child  who 
exhibits  timidity  is  usually  most  unmercifully  scoffed 
at  and  teased,  frequently  becoming  an  outcast  from  his 
kind,  forced  to  fall  back  on  the  society  of  younger 
children. 

Girls  are  less  aggressive  in  their  fighting,  and  pos¬ 
sibly  weaker  in  self-assertion.  They  are  also  slower 
than  their  brothers  to  organize  effortful  activity  in  their 
own  sex  group,  though  they  may  be  just  as  clannish  in 
wishing  to  get  together.  Whether  from  original  nature 
or  from  conventional  training  they  stay  at  home  more, 
and  explore  abroad  less  than  boys.  Thus  their  mischief 
seems  of  the  less  overt,  violent  sort,  and  certainly  does 
not  get  them  into  trouble  with  public  authorities  nearly 
so  often  as  is  the  case  with  boys.  It  is,  however, 
an  age  of  tomboyism,  when  acrobatic  feats  are 
the  order  of  the  day  and  rivalry  is  very  keen. 
Outdoor  life  and  competitive  games  are  alluring  to  the 
“weaker  sex”  too,  and  provide  their  own  opportunities 
for  planning  and  deciding,  for  finding  one’s  own  level 
among  companions,  for  proving  one’s  mettle  at  sports. 

Social  will-training. — Now  in  what  way  do  these 
tendencies  help  develop  the  power  of  deciding,  or  what 
we  call  will  power?  First  of  all,  in  the  hazard  of  the 
exploit  and  in  the  rapid  pace  of  the  game  there  arise 
countless  necessities  for  deciding  and  acting.  Indeed, 
he  who  hesitates  is  lost,  or  else  loses  the  game  and  is 
so  informed  in  no  soft  and  gentle  terms  by  the  rest. 
Many  a  dawdler  has  found  himself  compelled  to  quick 
thinking  and  swift  action  by  the  imminence  of  danger 
or  the  vicissitudes  of  the  ball  game.  Then  again,  there 


86  A  Study  of  the  Junior  Child 

is  the  burden  of  sharing  decisions  with  the  rest  of  the 
group.  To  quote  once  more  from  Lee1 :  “There  is  no 
more  prolific  source  of  legislation  than  athletic  compe¬ 
tition,  and  no  relation  in  life  calls  for  a  more  constant 
exercise  of  the  judicial  faculty.”  In  the  endless  stunts 
and  competitions  there  is  perpetual  need  for  deciding 
who  won,  who  was  caught,  who  is  out,  whether  so-and- 
so  played  fair.  From  minute  to  minute  effort  must 
be  judged,  standards  must  be  recognized,  disputes  must 
be  thrashed  out,  opinion  must  clash  with  opinion,  and 
either  justify  itself  or  be  converted  by  the  majority 
ruling.  Then,  too,  each  must  find  out  when  to  submit 
and  when  to  stand  up  for  his  rights.  Individual  antag¬ 
onisms  must  give  way  to  cooperation,  or  wild  anarchy 
will  prevail  which,  in  the  long  run,  is  found  distinctly 
uncomfortable.  Thus  both  physically  and  socially  the 
power  of  deciding  is  being  trained. 

Decision  as  a  habit. — The  capacity  for  decision 
is  developed,  like  any  other  capacity,  by  exercise,  and 
by  discriminative  exercise  on  higher  planes  or  in  wider 
fields.  Thrown  on  his  own  resources  in  a  world  of 
boys  and  girls,  a  child  learns  to  hold  his  own  by  normal 
Strength  and  daring.  In  the  realm  of  games  and  play 
he  finds  his  greatest  social  realization,  and  so  his  chief 
need  of  moral  adjustment,  since  morality  develops  from 
social  contacts.  His  habits  of  decision  are  needed  in 
concrete  physical  situations,  also  in  regulating  the  ac¬ 
tivities  of  the  group  of  which  he  finds  himself  a  mem¬ 
ber.  He  decides  less  by  abstract  ideals  than  by  stand¬ 
ards  wrought  out  in  the  hard  give  and  take  of  group 


1  “Play  in  Education.”  Page  329. 


New  Capacity  for  Decision 


87 


play.  Hence  the  child  who  is  naturally  quick  and  firm 
in  choosing  one  side  of  a  problem  often  comes  to  be 
a  leader,  while  the  child  who  wavers  may  lapse  into 
having  his  decisions  made  for  him.  So,  too,  the  child 
who  is  inferior  in  physical  prowess  may  learn  to  win 
his  way  by  guile,  or  by  tricks  of  “blarney,”  or  by  being 
shut  out  of  many  competitive  games  and  thus  missing 
an  important  form  of  training  in  decision,  he  may  re¬ 
main  deficient  in  will  power  all  his  life. 

If  we  analyze  volition,  we  see  that  a  good  power  of 
deciding  implies:  (1)  Waiting  to  accumulate  all  the 
evidence  before  making  a  decision,  a  habit  rather  for- 
eign  to  the  impulsive  Junior.  (2)  Refraining  from  a 
dawdling  decision,  a  relatively  easy  matter  at  this  age 
except  in  special  cases.  (3)  Persistence  in  a  course  of 
action  once  decided  on,  even  though  it  prove  rather 
unpleasant.  This  is  usually  well  disciplined  by  most  of 
the  activities  natural  to  the  period,  but  in  set  tasks  it 
often  needs  much  encouragement.  Good  volition  also 
presupposes  (4)  ability  to  analyze  a  problem  so  as  to 
choose  the  best  course  wisely,  which  ability  at  this  age 
is  of  course  in  but  an  early  stage  of  development.  It  is 
here  that  we  can  help  children  to  think  more  clearly 
into  the  issues  involved,  and  forecast  the  results,  or 
retrace  from  effect  to  cause  so  as  to  judge  whether  or 
not  a  decision  was  a  wise  one.  It  also,  (5)  from  the 
standpoint  of  character,  implies  the  direction  of  con¬ 
duct  in  accordance  with  ideals.  These,  we  have  seen, 
are  seldom  abstract  at  this  age,  so  that  the  question  of 
who  is  the  concrete  embodiment  of  ideals  becomes  very 
important. 


88 


A  Study  of  the  Junior  Child 


The  power  of  self-control  is,  of  course,  involved  in 
the  matter  of  volition.  Mere  impulsive  action  is  one 
of  the  lowest  forms  of  mental  activity,  the  kind  we  ex¬ 
pect  from  animals,  babies,  and  other  immature  crea¬ 
tures.  To  be  “disciplined,”  however,  implies  that  all 
impulses  are  not  immediately  carried  over  into  action, 
but  that  time  is  taken  for  deliberation.  Recall  and 
foresight  will  mean  that  some  impulses  are  restrained 
and  others  given  free  rein,  according  to  the  standards 
felt.  As  children  become  better  able  to  think,  their 
possibilities  of  recalling  and  judging  improve.  As  they 
actually  experience  the  results  of  action,  and  remember 
these  results,  they  will  gain  in  foresight.  As  they  are 
given  opportunity  to  choose  and  decide  for  themselves, 
they  gain  in  power  to  do  so  quickly  with  less  effort, 
and  with  self-reliance.  If  they  have  been  compelled 
to  abide  by  the  consequences  of  those  decisions, 
whether  pleasant  or  unpleasant,  they  learn  to  choose 
wisely.  It  follows,  then,  that  as  the  time  sense  and 
memory  are  better  in  the  Junior  period  than  before, 
these  two  factors  alone  will  contribute  to  increased 
power  of  decision.  But  real  discipline  will  have  been 
obtained  only  as  the  home  and  social  training  has  af¬ 
forded  opportunity  to  choose,  as  it  has  discouraged  vac¬ 
illation  or  hesitation,  and  as  it  has  emphasized  the 
value  of  effort  in  sticking  to  a  course  once  chosen. 

In  the  schoolroom  where  the  project  method  of 
teaching  is  used,  very  much  more  opportunity  is  given 
the  child  for  initiating  activities.  lie  is  also  called  on 
far  more  frequently  to  exercise  judgment,  to  weigh  and 
balance  factors  which  should  guide  decisions,  to  plan 


New  Capacity  for  Decision 


89 


out  work  and  to  criticize  not  only  outcome,  but  efforts. 
An  interesting  thing  about  this  method  is  that  adults 
are  perpetually  surprised  by  the  sensible  way  in  which 
youngsters  take  a  comprehensive  view  of  the  situa¬ 
tion  and  rise  to  the  responsibilities  placed  upon  them. 
A  Junior  superintendent,  much  concerned  with  the  ap¬ 
parent  failure  of  some  schemes  on  foot,  called  the 
eleven-year-old  president  of  the  group  in  consultation. 
To  her  surprise  he  had  recognized  every  difficulty  which 
she  had  noted,  spoke  of  one  or  two  more,  and  in  addi¬ 
tion  suggested  a  couple  of  changes  in  policy  which 
proved  most  effective.  Thus,  criticism  can  be  not  only 
unsparing  at  times,  but  it  can  also  be  constructive.  The 
viewpoint  from  inside  boyhood  may  give  the  angle  of 
vision  lost  to  the  adult,  and  from  which  the  way  may 
be  seen  to  the  solution  of  a  problem  in  conduct. 

Home  influence  in  will-training. — How  does  the 
home  foster  habits  of  decision?  Precisely  in  the  same 
way  as  already  suggested  :  ( 1 )  By  making  opportunities 
for  decision,  in  other  words  by  giving  responsibility ; 
(2)  by  allowing  the  results  of  decision  to  be  felt,  criti¬ 
cizing  in  the  light  of  the  pleasantness  or  unpleasantness 
of  the  results;  (3)  by  making  lack  of  decision,  and  too 
hasty  decision,  uncomfortable;  (4)  by  insisting  on  self- 
control. 

A  home  where  there  is  little  or  no  routine,  where  a 
vacillating  policy  and  the  whim  of  the  moment  are  all 
that  determine  the  elders’  movements,  offers  little  that 
is  good  will-training  to  the  growing  child.  He  has  no 
standard  to  imitate  beyond  that  of  seeking  his  own  im¬ 
mediate  convenience  and  bids  fair  to  develop  into  an 


90  A  Study  of  the  Junior  Child 

undisciplined,  selfish,  tyrannical  adult.  On  the  other 
hand,  a  home  where  everything  is  reduced  to  a  military 
routine,  which  permits  no  individual  choice  in  any  mat¬ 
ter,  so  mechanizes  a  child  that  when  he  is  later  thrown 
on  his  own  responsibility  in  a  different  environment, 
he  seems  at  a  loss  to  know  what  to  do.  The  happy 
medium  is,  of  course,  not  too  easy  to  acquire,  especially 
when  so  much  depends  on  the  different  temperaments 
of  the  members  of  the  household  as  well  as  on  their 
number.  Some  routine  there  must  be ;  but  instead  of 
blindly  following  it,  children  must  be  led  to  intelligent 
cooperation  therein.  There  is  not  only  the  regulation 
to  be  obeyed,  but  also  the  necessity  of  understanding 
the  purpose  of  that  regulation.  As  we  have  seen,  chil¬ 
dren  feel  the  force  of  a  rule  in  a  game  when  they  them¬ 
selves  have  helped  formulate  it.  Consequently,  in  many 
matters  of  home  life,  such  as  the  times  to  do  certain 
tasks,  the  places  where  things  are  to  be  kept,  waiting 
upon  oneself  rather  than  demanding  service  from 
others,  planning  help  for  the  others,  planning  ways  of 
entertaining,  children  must  be  habituated  to  consider 
the  advisability  of  this  or  that  course,  choose  one,  and 
thereafter  stick  to  the  choice. 

The  same  principles  of  habit-forming  (exercise  and 
reward)  apply  here  as  elsewhere.  Given  the  interest 
and  motive  to  plan  and  choose,  they  must  have  such 
choices  with  some  frequency,  feel  the  effects  with  full 
force  whether  agreeable  or  disagreeable,  and  take  time 
for  criticism  and  appreciation  of  the  wisdom  of  their 
choice.  Only  so  can  worthy  responsibility  grow. 

Compare  these  treatments  of  children.  Raymond’s 


New  Capacity  for  Decision 


91 


mother  calls,  “Now,  dear,  go  and  wash  your  hands,  it’s 
nearly  supper  time,”  in  such  a  tone  that  all  the  response 
she  gets  is,  “Uh  huh.”  Five  minutes  later  it  is  “Ray¬ 
mond,  didn’t  you  hear  mother  ask  you  to  wash  your 
hands?  Well,  please  go  and  do  as  I  ask  you.”  “All 
right,  in  just  a  minute.”  Two  minutes  later,  “Ray¬ 
mond,  do  go,  here’s  supper  just  ready,  and  I  asked  you 
before.”  Scramble  from  the  boy,  irritation  for  mother. 
Yet  Raymond  himself  says,  “When  Miss  Forrest  says, 
‘Now,  children,  you  have  just  fifteen  minutes  to  do 
that,’  I  know  I  have  just  that  time  and  then  it’s  got  to 
be  ready.”  Of  course,  the  mistake  was  made  long  be¬ 
fore,  in  Raymond’s  training.  Compare  his  father’s 
method,  when  he  is  called  in  to  supplement  authority. 
He  demands,  “Well  sir,  am  I  going  to  be  obeyed  or  not  ? 
Go  do  what  you’re  told  at  once” — and  gets  obedience, 
of  a  kind.  Compare  the  home  where  the  children  are 
held  responsible  for  knowing  not  only  supper  time, 
but  also  five  minutes  beforehand  that  they  must  get 
ready ;  also  that  without  being  reminded  by  anyone  else, 
when  the  clock  indicates  the  bedtime  agreed  upon,  bed- 
wards  they  must  start. 

A  vacillating,  dawdling  child  frequently  becomes  up¬ 
set  and  nervous  if  pressure  is  brought  to  bear  from  the 
outside  to  make  better  speed ;  but  by  suffering  the  social 
consequences  of  dilatoriness,  losing  a  treat,  missing  a 
privilege,  getting  no  choice  at  all  because  of  slow  action, 
he  will  be  more  likely  to  apply  the  pressure  himself 
from  the  inside,  and  so  learn  the  value  of  quicker  de¬ 
cisions. 

Persistence  in  sticking  to  a  task  until  finished  is  one 


92 


A  Study  of  the  Junior  Child 


of  the  most  difficult  traits  to  train.  The  lack  of  it  is 
more  surely  a  sign  of  a  weak  will  than  manner  of 
choice  is,  since  choices  are  often  made  through  impulse, 
whereas  plodding  to  the  end  often  goes  against  impulse 
and  demands  effort.  Here  too  is  where  too  soft¬ 
hearted  (or  is  it  soft-headed?)  parents  are  apt  to 
weaken,  to  feel  sorry  for  the  child  who  is  feeling  dis¬ 
comfort  in  his  effort,  and  to  finish  the  task  for  him,  or 
condole  with  him  and  excuse  the  completion  altogether. 
A  more  “penny  wise,  pound  foolish”  plan  could  not  be 
imagined.  They  are  not  only  not  helping  the  child  form 
habits  of  perseverance,  but  they  are  deliberately  form¬ 
ing  habits  in  him  of  setting  present  pleasure  highest,  of 
doing  scamped  work,  forming  the  kind  of  character  no 
one  can  trust.  Far  better  to  experience  both  the  present 
discomfort  and  the  permanent  worth.  An  appeal  to 
honor  can  be  made  here,  as  a  motive  for  the  habit  of 
sticking  to  it. 

Emotional  self-control  must  be  fostered  in  every 
way,  according  to  the  tendencies  of  the  particular  child. 
Again  the  laws  of  habit-forming  apply.  Motivate  for 
self-control,  reward  when  it  is  well  done,  make  the  lack 
of  it  disagreeable. 

Our  part  in  training  the  will. — Since  it  is  only  by 
exercise  that  a  capacity  can  grow  we  must  see  to  it  that 
no  child,  no  group,  is  so  sheltered  from  crises  demand¬ 
ing  thought,  so  dictated  to  whenever  a  question  of  be¬ 
havior  arises,  that  no  chance  of  planning  and  deciding 
is  afforded.  Moreover,  we  need  to  see  that  they  feel 
the  consequences  of  their  decisions  so  as  to  be  better 
judges  next  time.  We  must  emphasize  the  connection 


New  Capacity  for  Decision 


93 


between  the  happy  results  and  the  wise  choice.  We 
must  not  weakly  nullify  the  results  of  an  unwise  choice, 
but  let  them  learn  from  the  ensuing  discomfort  not  to 
make  that  particular  kind  of  error  again. 

Indications  of  a  faultily  trained  will  are  to  be  found 
in  fits  of  sulkiness  or  fits  of  obstinacy.  The  former 
is  a  weak,  helpless  way  of  meeting  the  unpleasantness 
of  being  thwarted,  instead  of  the  more  efficient  think¬ 
ing  which  discovers  some  other  way  out  of  the  discom¬ 
fort.  The  latter,  obstinacy,  is  of  two  kinds:  (1)  posi¬ 
tive — persistent  effort  in  the  face  of  social  prohibition, 
or  (2)  negative — refusal  to  comply  with  a  request. 
The  positive  kind  is  misdirected  attention,  and  needs 
treatment  by  distraction,  by  substituting  some  other 
equally  attractive  occupation.  The  negative  is  due  to 
a  species  of  paralysis,  and  inability  to  act,  rather  than 
a  genuine  refusal.  To  leave  such  cases  alone  is  wiser 
than  to  try  to  force  the  issue,  until  the  “cold  lump  in¬ 
side”  has  melted.  Friendly  sympathy  or  the  warmth  of 
humor,  after  a  judicious  interval  of  letting  alone,  will 
often  hasten  this  melting  process.  In  any  case,  a  con¬ 
flict  of  wills  should  be  avoided  as  far  as  possible.  If 
the  adult  conquers  the  child,  our  real  goal — that  of 
self-mastery  has  not  been  attained.  If  the  child  wins 
over  the  adult  it  establishes  a  bad  precedent.  In  either 
case  an  ugly  scar  is  left  in  consciousness. 

How  then  is  self-mastery  attained?  From  the  be¬ 
ginning  of  life  every  impulse  to  act  is  provided  with 
complementary  counterchecks.  As  one  muscle  con¬ 
tracts  another  relaxes,  to  render  possible  the  total 
movement  of  raising  and  bending  the  arm,  for  instance. 


94 


A  Study  of  the  Junior  Child 


The  impulse  to  touch  the  flame  is  inhibited  by  the  im¬ 
pulse  to  draw  away  as  the  excessive  heat  is  felt.  The 
impulse  to  give  way  to  anger  is  checked  by  the  recollec¬ 
tion  of  how  badly  some  one’s  feelings  were  hurt  last 
time.  The  fear  of  balancing  alone  on  the  high,  narrow 
plank  is  outweighed  by  the  fear  of  being  laughed  at 
if  one  hangs  back.  The  desire  to  eat  candy  now  is 
balanced  by  the  desire  to  keep  some  to  share  with  a 
chum.  The  thought  of  spending  all  one’s  money  on  a 
coveted  object  is  met  by  the  thought  of  saving  some 
for  a  greater  necessity,  and  so  on.  Again  it  is  the 
grasp  of  consequences  that  stimulates  the  memory,  and 
trains  the  judgment.  A  well-balanced,  self-controlled 
child  is  one  who  is  so  coordinating  his  antagonistic 
impulses  that  they  no  longer  conflict,  but  work  together 
as  do  the  muscles  of  his  arm  in  throwing  a  ball. 

What  to  expect. — Are  there  any  standards  by 
which  to  measure  a  child  and  see  whether  or  not  he  is 
up  to  normal  for  his  age  in  power  of  self-control? 
Not  yet,  as  derived  from  scientific  experiment,  in  any 
such  definite  way  as  to  enable  us  to  determine  degree 
of  development  physically  and  mentally.  There  is  a 
good  consensus  of  opinion  from  parents  and  educators, 
to  be  sure ;  but  we  still  await  the  type  of  character 
test  necessary  to  determine  a  child’s  status  volitionally 
for  his  age.  Here  are  a  few  suggestions  for  the  home. 
By  nine  years  old  a  child  can  be  held  responsible  for 
keeping  his  toys  and  his  clothes  in  their  assigned  places, 
for  consulting  the  weather  and  the  thermometer  to  know 
— as  previously  discussed  and  agreed  upon — what  outer 
clothing  will  be  necessary.  By  eleven  a  child  should  be 


New  Capacity  for  Decision 


95 


able  to  select  a  meal  wisely  and  economically  from  the 
restaurant  bill  of  fare.  By  twelve  a  self-reliant  child 
should  be  able  to  take  tickets,  check  trunks,  consult 
time-tables  and  plan  routes.  Both  eleven-  and  twelve- 
year-olds  should  be  expected  to  act  adequately  as  host 
or  hostess  to  those  of  their  own  age,  mapping  out  the 
entertainment,  planning  and  helping  to  prepare  the  re¬ 
freshments.  Increasingly,  Juniors  should  earn  a  re¬ 
ward  before  enjoying  it,  take  “pain  before  pleasure” 
if  it  means  choosing  the  relatively  unattractive  course 
first.  Habits  of  thrift,  of  dependability  in  completing 
assigned  tasks,  of  meeting  appointments  reliably  and 
punctually,  should  be  well  formed  in  all  sorts  of  situa¬ 
tions,  remembering  that  habits  do  not  grow  by  exhorta¬ 
tion  from  the  elders,  but  by  frequent  chances  to  prac¬ 
tice  them. 

For  Discussion 

1.  In  what  way  may  training  in  obedience  foster  self- 
control  ? 

2.  How  may  an  obedient  child  have  missed  any 
worth-while  volitional  training  ? 

3.  Why  may  daydreaming  tend  to  weaken  the  will  ? 

4.  What  has  attention  to  do  with  will  power? 


CHAPTER  VII 


THE  NATURE  AND  VALUE  OF  MEMORY 

Fore-Exercise 

If  you  conveniently  can,  ask  a  ten-year-old  child  to 
learn  aloud  for  you  some  brief  selection,  say  the  first 
six  verses  of  Psalm  19.  Make  it  clear  that  you  want 
everything  out  loud,  the  thinking  and  the  practice  and 
all.  Do  not  offer  any  suggestions  as  to  method,  but 
note  carefully  what  your  subject  does.  For  example, 
does  he  read  it  all  through  first  or  concentrate  on 
memorizing  it  verse  by  verse?  Does  he  stop  over  the 
figures  of  speech  to  get  the  picture  mentally  ?  Does  he 
ask  himself  what  the  longer,  possibly  less  familiar 
words  mean?  Does  he  gabble  as  he  repeats  it?  Does 
he  look  off,  to  test  whether  he  knows  it?  Take  careful 
note  of  exactly  what  he  does. 

Before  reading  this  chapter,  ask  yourself  by  what 
different  method,  if  any,  you  would  set  about  memo¬ 
rizing  such  a  selection  yourself.  How  would  you  pre¬ 
pare  to  teach  such  a  selection  to  a  class  of  children  of 
that  age? 

Popular  beliefs  concerning  children’s  memories. — 

You  have  doubtless  often  heard  it  said  that  children 
learn  much  more  easily  than  adults  do,  or  that  child¬ 
hood  is  the  golden  age  for  memory,  or  that  what  we 
learn  as  children  we  never  forget,  or  that  children  have 
better  memories  than  adults.  Let  us  see  how  nearly 
true  these  statements  are,  and  whether  they  all  mean 
the  same  thing  or  not. 


96 


The  Nature  and  Value  of  Memory  97 


The  more  we  study  what  constitutes  memory  the 
more  we  have  to  admit  that  it  is  not  one  thing  but  sev¬ 
eral,  that  we  have  not  a  memory,  but  many  memories, 
for  this,  that  and  the  other — a  fact  that  any  person  will 
claim  in  self-defense  when  he  says  he  has  a  poor  mem¬ 
ory  for  names,  but  a  good  memory  for  faces.  We  find, 
likewise,  that  learning  in  the  sense  of  memorizing  is 
not  an  identical  process  at  all  times  with  all  people,  and 
that  remembering  may  mean  several  different  things 
depending  on  the  connection  in  which  the  term  is  used. 

Meanings  of  memory. — John  does  not  remember 
well  enough  to  describe  the  place  by  the  brook  where 
they  had  a  picnic  last  week,  but  he  remembers  it  when 
he  sees  it  again.  Eva  remembers  how  she  lost  her  hair 
ribbon  where  they  scrambled  through  the  bushes,  and 
has  a  vivid  visual  image  of  the  whole  place.  Both 
think  that  they  will  remember  how  to  swim  this  sum¬ 
mer;  both  remember  a  number  of  doggerel  conundrums 
that  they  enjoy  repeating.  Both  remember  the  main 
points  in  an  exciting  story  they  have  read  only  once. 
In  such  a  tangle  of  meanings,  what  kinds  of  memory 
can  be  distinguished? 

The  chief  thing  in  common  with  all  these  remember¬ 
ings  is  that  really  a  habit  has  been  called  to  action — a 
previously  formed  connection  of  thoughts,  or  actions, 
or  feelings.  Something  is  done  again  that  has  been 
done  before  but  not  immediately  before — as  in  swim¬ 
ming,  or  recognizing  the  picnic  place — or  something  is 
felt  or  thought  of  again  after  an  interval  during  which 
other  matters  have  occupied  the  attention.  If  the 
former  sequence  of  action  or  thought  is  peculiar  to  the 


98  A  Study  of  the  Junior  Child 

person  experiencing  it — as  Eva’s  recollection  of  losing 
her  ribbon — we  have  what  has  been  termed  memory 
proper.  It  is  this  thread  of  recollection  and  identifica¬ 
tion  of  our  own  life  that  keeps  us  one  unitary  person¬ 
ality  through  different  periods.  Eva  remembers  things 
she  did  at  five  years  old  not  because  she  has  been  told 
about  them  by  other  people,  but  because  she  is  able  to 
bring  them  back  with  the  inner,  individual  viewpoint ; 
thus  her  memory  of  an  event  is  colored  differently  from 
her  mother’s  memory  of  the  same,  indeed  from  that  of 
everyone  else. 

When  we  remember  facts  learned,  such  as  a  pair  of 
names  together  of  state  and  capital,  we  obviously  do  not 
have  to  invoke  this  personal  memory,  only  to  see  to  it 
that  a  habit  of  thinking  and  saying  or  writing  these  two 
names  together  persists.  Teachers  probably  call  this 
the  most  important  form  of  memory,  since  it  is  the 
form  they  are  chiefly  concerned  in  training.  Habits  of 
skill  which  remain  after  a  lapse  of  time  also  share  the 
term  memory.  In  this  case  muscles  are  involved;  and 
it  is  interesting  to  note  that  sometimes  the  muscles 
seem  to  remember  beautifully  when  we  have  not  known 
beforehand  whether  we  could  still  ride  horseback,  or 
swim,  or  play  a  particular  selection  on  the  piano. 

Sometimes  to  remember  something  implies  having 
now  a  mental  image  of  how  the  original  impression 
looked,  or  sounded,  or  felt.  We  can  call  up  to  the 
mind’s  eye  or  the  mind’s  nose  -or  the  mind’s  ear  some 
experience  that  formerly  assailed  the  real  eyes,  nose, 
and  ears.  We  may  even  be  helped  to  remember  music 
by  the  place  on  the  page  where  it  was  printed,  or  re- 


The  Nature  and  Value  of  Memory 


99 


member  what  we  are  going  to  say  to  an  audience  by 
gesturing  in  imagination. 

Children’s  memories. — Before  we  explore  further 
into  the  meanings  of  memory  let  us  get  an  idea  of  how 
good  children  of  Junior  age  may  be  with  these  four 
forms  of  memory. 

So  far  as  memory  proper,  or  personal  memory  is 
concerned,  children  will  be  accurate  in  this  just  in  pro¬ 
portion  as  they  were  deeply  impressed  at  the  time  of 
the  occurrence,  or  were  attentive  to  their  own  experi¬ 
ence.  They  are  rather  susceptible  to  suggestion,  so 
that  if  plied  with  leading  questions  they  may  be  led  to 
falsify  their  accounts  unintentionally  rather  more  easily 
than  adults,  but  less  easily  at  twelve  than  at  nine. 
Curiously,  being  absolutely  positive  as  to  the  details  of 
an  affair  by  no  means  indicates  real  reliability ;  it  is  the 
child  who  is  trained  to  be  observant  and  to  verify  par¬ 
ticulars  while  still  observing  who  tends  to  be  accurate, 
not  the  one  who  is  willing  to  swear  he  is  right  in  his 
account.  To  repeat  a  version  of  an  occurrence,  espe¬ 
cially  several  times  over  to  sympathetic  audiences,  tends 
to  fix  the  facts  mentioned,  whether  they  were  originally 
correct  or  not ;  it  also  tends  to  distort  the  general  ac¬ 
curacy,  since  stories  will  grow  in  the  direction  of  the 
narrator’s  wishes  and  ambitions.  Thus  we  should  be 
wary  in  pressing  children  for  details  in  conflicting 
accounts  of  a  quarrel,  for  instance,  and  should  par¬ 
ticularly  discount  any  figures  of  how  often,  how  many, 
how  long,  how  much,  since  such  estimates  are  scarcely 
ever  correct  and  are  the  first  to  suffer  change  by 
repetition. 


100  A  Study  of  the  Junior  Child 

In  the  next  two  kinds  of  memory,  mental  associations 
and  muscle  habits,  children  of  this  age  have  a  decided 
advantage.  Once  the  association  is  really  made, 
granted  that  the  facts  will  stick  for  at  least  twenty  to 
thirty  minutes,  children  retain  what  they  learn  very 
well  indeed.  There  has  been  a  steady  increase  in  this 
power  of  retention  from  the  earlier  years,  and  the 
maximum  is  reached  some  time  before  fourteen,  so 
that  every  year  of  the  Junior  period  sees  the  children 
better  able  to  remember,  in  this  sense,  than  ever  before. 
They  can  also  do  as  well  as  the  sixteen-year-olds  by 
the  time  they  are  eleven  or  so,  and  better  than  people 
in  the  twenties,  once  they  have  really  learned  the  ma¬ 
terial.  This  also  holds  good  with  many  muscle  memo¬ 
ries.  Some  skilled  habits  must,  indeed,  be  acquired  in 
childhood  because  bones  and  muscles  are  so  much  more 
plastic  in  the  early  years.  An  acrobat  must  begin 
training  before  ten ;  a  pianist  or  violinist  labors  much 
harder  in  the  teens  to  acquire  the  technique  that  would 
have  come  easily  in  the  previous  years. 

For  the  fourth  meaning  of  memory,  it  seems  probable 
that  children’s  imagery  is  much  more  vivid  than  that 
of  adults,  who  have  replaced  it  with  other  aids  to  re¬ 
call.  Certainly  their  images  of  things  actually  seen, 
heard,  tasted,  and  felt  are  more  concrete  than  the  cold, 
pale  word  representing  the  experience  which  is  all  that 
many  adults  use  in  the  way  of  imagery,  especially  when 
they  are  thinking  rapidly  or  in  abstract  terms.  Not  that 
an  image  helps  necessarily  to  make  the  memory  any 
more  trustworthy,  but  it  seems  more  interesting  because 
of  the  lifelikeness  of  the  details  involved. 


The  Nature  and  Value  of  Memory  101 

To  sum  up  the  facts  so  far : 

(1)  Children  of  Junior  age  may  have  good  personal 
memories ;  but  unless  they  are  carefully  attentive  to 
an  occurrence  they  may  easily  be  inaccurate  in  nar¬ 
rating  it. 

(2)  They  retain  facts,  once  well  learned,  better  than 
ever  before,  and  almost  better  than  ever  again. 

(3)  Many  muscle  habits  are  better  formed  now,  (if 
not  earlier)  than  later  on. 

(4)  Their  imagery  is  vivid  and  concrete,  largely  vis¬ 
ual,  and  helps  to  make  the  memory  content  interesting. 

Memorizing. — If  we  ask  by  what  process  facts 
come  to  be  entrusted  to  memory  in  the  first  place,  we 
find  that  in  the  main  there  are  two  methods.  The  first 
of  these  has  to  do  chiefly  with  the  original  external 
impressions.  We  may  repeat  an  impression  so  often 
that  in  spite  of  very  little  effort  of  attention  the  thing 
is  learned.  Thus  we  learn  popular  music  or  acquire 
information  about  so-and-so’s  commodities,  because  we 
hear  the  former  so  frequently,  or  because  the  adver¬ 
tisement  of  the  latter  meets  our  eyes  at  every  turn. 
Children  will  start  to  memorize  by  this  method,  re¬ 
peating  a  stanza  or  even  a  line  of  poetry  many  times 
with  little  or  no  attention  as  they  gabble  faster  and 
faster,  depending  on  brute  repetition  to  drive  the  thing 
home.  Unfortunately,  the  less  the  attention  the  more 
it  is  likely  that  mistakes  will  creep  in  unnoticed,  and 
be  perpetuated.  Of  this  kind  is  the  “prac1dce”  on  the 
piano  when  the  fingers  go  through  some  motions  per¬ 
functorily  while  the  story  book  propped  open  on  the 
rack  absorbs  the  attention. 


102  A  Study  of  the  Junior  Child 

However,  we  may  depend  not  so  much  on  the  num¬ 
ber  of  original  impressions  as  on  their  intensity.  We 
may  have  so  sensational  a  presentation,  one  appealing 
to  the  interest  and  the  imagination,  that  relatively  few 
repetitions  suffice  to  fix  the  thing  in  mind.  Or  we  may 
so  concentrate  and  force  ourselves  to  attend  that  very 
much  less  time  is  required,  and  fewer  repetitions,  to 
learn  the  material.  Children  are  not  so  likely  to  force 
themselves  unless  there  is  some  element  of  competition 
introduced,  even  a  race  against  time.  It  is  obviously 
more  economical  to  learn  with  energy  and  interest  than 
to  dawdle  along  with  inattentive  repetitions ;  so  that  it 
pays  to  devise  means  of  making  vivid  the  appeals  to 
children’s  eyes  and  ears,  or  to  include  dramatization  or 
construction  work  that  will  intensify  the  external  im¬ 
pressions.  Moreover,  since  presenting  material  to  eyes, 
ears,  and  muscles,  not  only  makes  for  vividness  but  pro¬ 
vides  for  individual  differences  to  some  extent  and  also 
allows  extra  repetition,  we  should  take  care  to  include 
several  forms  of  presentation  rather  than  simply  to 
repeat  the  same  form  several  times.  Thus,  they  should 
read  as  well  as  listen  to  words  and  music,  say  them 
out  loud  and,  after  ten  years  old,  write  them  also,  pro¬ 
vided  the  act  of  writing  is  not  still  so  laborious  that  it 
absorbs  attention  in  itself. 

The  second  method  on  which  we  depend  in  memo¬ 
rizing  has  to  do  with  the  associations  formed,  with 
the  thoughts  called  up  and  linked  with  the  things  to  be 
learned,  with  the  weaving  together  of  the  new,  incom¬ 
ing  material  with  the  patterns  of  thought  already  fa¬ 
miliar.  Thus,  we  study  the  new,  analyze  or  outline  itv 


The  Nature  and  Value  of  Memory  103 


seeing  the  relationship  of  its  parts,  group  it  under  cer¬ 
tain  classification  heads,  illustrate  it  from  our  previous 
experience,  appreciate  its  beauty,  understand  it,  think 
about  it,  after  which  the  matter  of  memorizing  the 
exact  word  sequence  is  quick  and  easy. 

Of  these  two  methods  children  seem  to  use  the  first — 
that  of  relying  on  many  repetitions  of  the  external  j 
impression — rather  than  really  thinking  out  the  sig¬ 
nificance  of  the  meaning.  It  has  been  questioned,  in¬ 
deed,  whether  the  fact  that  material  had  any  meaning 
at  all  made  any  difference  to  them,  so  little  attention 
do  they  seem  to  pay  to  the  meaning,  and  so  easily  do 
they  allow  false  interpretations  to  creep  into  their  sing¬ 
song,  rote  memorizing.  Experiments  were  made  there¬ 
fore  to  see  if  they  would  learn  nonsense  as  rapidly  as 
meaningful  material.  It  was  found  that  after  all,  they 
did  not;  and,  moreover,  if  careful  heed  is  given  to 
forming  rich  and  plentiful  associations  instead  of  to 
emphasizing  mere  externals,  they  learn  still  better.  It 
pays,  then,  to  see  that  children  think  about  and  under¬ 
stand  the  hymns,  passages  of  Scripture  or  whatever 
we  ask  them  to  memorize,  from  the  standpoint  both  of 
rapidity  of  learning  and  of  likelihood  of  retention. 

For  example,  to  insure  association  rather  than  brute 
repetition  as  a  method  of  learning  Psalm  121,  we 
should  first  call  attention  to  the  group  of  psalms  en¬ 
titled  “songs  of  degrees,”  and  explain  the  term.  Viv¬ 
idly,  the  scenery  on  the  journey  to  Jerusalem  might  be 
recalled,  and  the  dangers  of  travel.  Further  descrip¬ 
tion  of  the  value  of  a  guide  and  a  sentinel  to  whom 
the  welfare  of  pilgrims  is  intrusted,  and  we  have  a 


104  A  Study  of  the  Junior  Child 

» 

series  of  rich  pictures  in  the  children’s  minds.  Then 
we  might  ask  what  the  people  who  stayed  at  home 
would  wish  for  their  friends  who  are  bidding  them 
goodbye.  By  dramatizing  the  two  voices,  and  following 
the  stanza  form  as  printed  in  such  a  version  as  Moul¬ 
ton’s,  we  shall  get  an  appreciative  understanding  of  the 
beautiful  song  that  will  greatly  facilitate  the  work  of 
mere  memorization.  A  little  attention  to  the  sequence 
of  words — help,  keep,  preserve — and  a  very  few  repe¬ 
titions  will  suffice. 

Memorizing  depends  not  only  upon  the  kind  of  asso¬ 
ciations  formed  but  also  upon  the  number  of  things 
the  attention  can  grasp  at  once.  There  is  a  gradual 
enlargement  in  this  span  of  attention  as  children  get 
older.  If  we  pronounce  a  series  of  numbers  aloud 
slowly,  at  the  rate  of  one  per  second,  and  ask  children 
to  write  down  the  list  after  we  have  finished,  we  shall 
find  that  on  the  average,  children  of  ten  years  can  get 
six  or  seven  correctly  and  in  order,  whereas  the  ordi¬ 
nary  adult  can  give  eight.  The  same  holds  true  of 
unrelated  words,  nonsense  syllables,  abstract  terms, 
series  of  tones  which  do  not  suggest  a  melody,  series 
of  objects  shown,  sounds  made,  and  so  forth.  This 
power  of  immediate  reproduction  of  impressions  in¬ 
creases  gradually  all  through  childhood  and  up  to  about 
twenty-five  years  of  age.  A  ten-year-old  is  better  than 
an  eight-year-old,  but  not  so  good  as  a  twelve-year-old, 
and  not  nearly  so  good  as  the  eighteen-year-old.  In 
this  sense  of  memorizing  children  are  at  a  disadvantage 
compared  with  young  adults.  Moreover,  if  within  ten 
minutes  we  ask  children  to  tell  us  the  series  again  with- 


The  Nature  and  Value  of  Memory  105 


out  first  refreshing-  their  memory,  we  shall  find  they 
have  forgotten  far  more  than  older  boys  or  girls  or 
adults  in  the  same  short  period  .  Up  to  twenty  minutes 
they  forget  impressions  very  rapidly.  What  sticks  in 
mind  over  and  beyond  that  length  of  time  is  apt  to 
remain  better  for  them  than  for  older  people,  though 
the  latter  make  a  better  showing  during  that  twenty 
minutes  because  of  better  attention  span  to  the  one 
repetition. 

To  sum  up  again: 

(5)  In  the  process  of  memorizing  children  tend  to  de¬ 
pend  on  a  great  number  of  repetitions,  often  with  little 
concentration  and  no  attention  to  the  meaning. 

(6)  It  is  more  profitable  to  help  them  improve  their 
methods  of  attending,  and  to  provide  for  a  variety  of 
impressions  than  for  mere  frequency. 

(7)  It  is  still  more  profitable  to  develop  habits  of 
critical,  appreciative  learning,  than  to  permit  mere  rote 
memorizing. 

(8)  After  one  repetition  only,  Juniors  cannot  repro¬ 
duce  immediately  as  much  as  adults  can,  and  they  will 
at  first  forget  more  rapidly  than  adults.  Anything  re¬ 
membered  beyond  twenty  minutes  is  likely  to  be  re¬ 
tained  by  them  better  than  by  adults. 

Still  we  are  not  done  with  meanings  of  “remember.” 
We  have  discussed  retention.  We  have  considered  the 
process  of  learning,  but  how  is  a  thing  recollected? 
How  do  we  prove  that  we  have  first  learned,  then  re¬ 
tained  a  fact  ?  Retention  only  suggests  that  an  associa¬ 
tion  once  formed  has  stayed;  but  how  is  it  brought 
back  when  wanted  for  use?  Retention  is  a  resting 


106  A  Study  of  the  Junior  Child 

state,  but  remembering  is  an  active  thing,  after  all. 

Recognition  and  recall. — The  two  terms  we  em¬ 
ploy  are  to  recognize,  and  to  recall.  To  recognize  any¬ 
thing  means  only  that  we  act  with  familiarity  towards 
an  object  which  is  presented  to  us.  Thus,  we  identify 
last  night’s  burglar  from  the  line-up  of  suspects,  we 
pick  out  the  melody  we  heard  and  liked  from  several 
that  are  now  played  over  for  us,  we  are  unable  to  re¬ 
member  a  person’s  name  until  it  is  told  us  once  more, 
when  we  say,  “Of  course,  that  is  it.”  You  see,  it  is 
an  easy  form  of  memory  which  even  animals  develop, 
since  they  react  with  habits  previously  learned  to  fa¬ 
miliar  sounds,  smells,  places  and  so  forth.  It  is  set 
going  by  an  immediate  stimulus  to  the  senses ;  for  this 
reason,  then,  it  is  less  useful  for  independent  thinking 
than  is  recall,  which  means  the  ability  to  reinstate  some 
past  association  in  our  thinking  more  or  less  fully  with¬ 
out  any  present  aid  from  outside.  Many  facts  we  once 
learned  are  not  retained  well  enough  to  be  recalled, 
though  as  soon  as  some  one  tells  us  the  facts  over  again 
we  are  able  to  recognize  them.  Consequently  we  have 
a  much  wider,  more  inclusive  field  of  recognition  than 
we  have  of  recall ;  and  even  in  more  definite  recall  this 
background  of  nearly  but  not  quite  remembered  asso¬ 
ciations  sets  the  stage,  so  to  speak,  and  induces  preju¬ 
dice,  bias,  emotional  sympathy  or  antipathy  in  our  re¬ 
actions.  Thus  a  child  may  retain  and  recognize  a  feel¬ 
ing  of  dislike  for  some  one,  and  show  it  at  the  next 
meeting  too,  though  he  can  recall  no  specific  grounds 
for  the  dislike  in  anything  that  has  happened.  Children 
are  not  different  from  adults  in  the  use  of  recognition 


The  Nature  and  Value  of  Memory  107 


and  recall  except  that  they  have  to  be  trained  to  prac¬ 
tice  recall  during  the  process  of  memorizing  rather  than 
to  rely  on  such  promptings  and  cues  as  will  involve 
recognition  only. 

When  a  pupil  is  endeavoring  to  recall,  one  can  often 
discover  whether  he  learned  more  by  impressions  or 
by  associations.  If  the  former,  then  he  will  try  to  re¬ 
vive  the  original  impressions  in  the  form  of  imagery, 
or  will  be  forced  to  repeat  an  entire  word  sequence 
from  the  beginning  to  get  his  cue.  If  lie  learned  by 
association,  he  will  now  consider  the  meaning  again, 
think  of  the  argument,  of  the  relationship  of  the  parts, 
or  whatever  appropriate  connection  was  made  while 
learning,  and  so  recall  in  that  way. 

To  help  train  pupils  to  recall  and  to  learn  by  associa¬ 
tion,  we  should  suggest  that  when  memorizing  a  selec¬ 
tion,  say,  of  thirty  lines  or  so,  they  should  read  over 
the  whole  and  find  its  meaning,  and  keep  on  reading  the 
entire  passage  rather  than  attacking  it  a  few  lines  at 
a  time,  piecemeal  fashion.  After  grasping  the  meaning 
of  the  whole,  thinking  out  further  illustrations,  appre¬ 
ciating  the  symbolism,  if  any,  and  following  the  pro¬ 
gression  of  thought,  they  should  read  the  whole 
rapidly  several  times,  then  test  themselves  to  see  how 
much  they  can  recall.  Upon  discovering  the  weak 
points  these  can  be  dwelt  on  specially,  then  fitted  in  to 
the  whole  again. 

It  is  better,  too,  for  children  to  spend  twenty  to 
twenty-five  minutes  memorizing  by  this  method,  then 
to  take  a  rest,  then  to  spend  fifteen  minutes,  then  have 
another  interval,  and  later  on  spend  ten  minutes  in 


108 


A  Study  of  the  Junior  Child 


reviewing  and  recalling,  than  it  would  be  to  spend  all 
fifty  minutes  in  one  stretch.  Each  study  period  should 
begin  and  end  with  attempted  recall  of  the  whole. 

Individual  differences  in  memory. — Of  course, 
everyone  remembers  more  easily  those  things  in  which 
he  is  interested,  and  children  are  no  exception  to  this 
rule.  Since  children  of  Junior  age  have  limited  and 
imperfect  ideas  of  abstractions,  it  follows  that  their 
memory  for  abstract  terms  is  poor  as  compared  to  that 
for  the  words  that  remind  them  of  concrete,  visible  ob¬ 
jects.  Between  ten  and  twelve  years  old  their  ability 
to  remember  and  reproduce  immediately  lists  of  num¬ 
bers,  or  of  words  denoting  objects  or  sounds  increases 
very  rapidly.  After  eleven  years  old  girls  are  rather 
better  at  this  than  boys  in  the  quantity  they  can  recall, 
though  they  do  not  so  often  get  the  order  exactly 
right.  Boys  do  better  in  reporting  objects  seen  than 
in  repeating  merely  words  which  refer  to  objects.  Both 
do  poorly  with  words  that  refer  to  emotions,  since  such 
words  are  usually  abstract  terms.  Some  children  with 
vivid  fancy  will  remember,  not  so  much  the  actual 
things  they  see  and  hear  as  the  thoughts  they  have  had 
concerning  these  experiences,  or  will  recall  other  in¬ 
formation  they  have  associated  with  one  given  fact. 
Others  again,  with  a  special  aptitude  for  statistics  or 
for  music,  or  for  form,  space  and  color,  will  develop 
special  memories  along  these  lines.  Here  too,  different 
interests  will  dominate.  Of  two  boys,  both  with  an 
aptitude  for  figures,  one  becomes  a  walking  encyclo¬ 
paedia  on  railroad  matters,  knowing  whole  time-tables 
in  detail  apparently,  mileage,  times  of  arrival  and  de- 


The  Nature  and  Value  of  Memory  109 


parture  of  scores  of  trains.  The  other  can  reel  off 
batting  averages  of  numberless  baseball  heroes.  Two 
other  children,  both  musically  inclined,  differ  so  that 
one  easily  and  quickly  picks  up  any  melody  she  has 
heard  two  or  three  times  and  can  sing  it,  or  reproduce 
it  on  the  piano,  while  the  other  is  not  satisfied  until  she 
has  the  right  harmonization  and  changes  of  key.  She 
sings  alto  in  school,  but  never  learns  her  part  by  itself, 
always  by  listening  to  its  relationship  to  the  soprano. 
“Ear-minded,”  both  of  them,  you  suppose !  But  Mary 
visualizes  the  whole  harmonic  chord  on  the  keyboard, 
even  when  she  is  singing  just  one  tone  of  it. 

For  Discussion 

1.  How  does  rhythm  help  fix  facts  in  children’s 
memories  ? 

2.  Is  there  any  advantage  in  learning  by  rote  the 
names  of  the  Bible  books  in  order?  What  would  be  a 
better  way  to  learn  ?  Why  ? 

3.  State  the  objections  from  the  psychological  point 
of  view  to  having  children  of  ten  memorize  the  Beati¬ 
tudes. 

4.  Why  should  a  child  think  through  a  selection,  say 
Psalm  1,  when  memorizing,  rather  than  begin  to  learn 
it,  a  verse  at  a  time  ? 

5.  Does  your  church  require  a  catechism  to  be 
learned  ?  What  difficulties  have  you  found  in  teaching 
it  ?  What  facts  stated  about  memory  in  this  age  period 
would  explain  the  difficulties? 

6.  Select  four  hymns,  the  words  of  which  you  think 
suitable  and  interesting  to  Junior  children.  Plan  defi¬ 
nitely  and  in  detail  how  to  teach  one  of  them. 

7.  Is,  or  is  it  not,  a  good  plan  to  have  first-year 
Juniors  write  out  the  Bible  verse  you  wish  them  to 
learn  ? 


CHAPTER  VIII 


HERO  WORSHIP 


Fore-Exercise 


It  is  suggested  that  you  ask  the  following  questions 
of  any  boys  or  girls  of  Junior  age  of  your  acquaintance. 
The  purpose  is  to  get  at  their  own  ideas  on  the  subject, 
so  do  not  suggest  any  ethical  standards  of  your  own. 
Lead  up  to  each  question  in  an  informal,  conversational 
way,  so  that  no  child  will  suspect  he  is  under  investi¬ 
gation,  and  ask  each  child  singly,  not  in  the  presence 
of  the  rest  of  the  group. 

(a)  When  would  it  be  wrong  for  a  boy  not  to  fight? 
When  does  he  just  have  to? 

(b)  If  you  could  have  for  a  chum  the  very  nicest  and 
best  sort  of  person  you  could  think  of,  what  would 
he  (or  she)  be  like? 

(c)  What  does  it  mean  to  be  patriotic?  When  were 
you  patriotic? 

( d )  Did  you  ever  turn  a  boy  out  of  your  gang?  What 
for? 

(e)  If  you  could  be  somebody  else  for  a  week,  anyone 
you  know  or  have  read  about,  whom  would  you  choose  ? 
(Ask  again,  if  Washington,  or  Lincoln  is  given.) 
Why? 

Feelings  of  worth. — Whom  does  the  small  boy 
admire?  What  sort  of  individual  is  enshrined  in  the 
heart  of  the  girl  worshiper?  Some  indication  to  this 
we  have  already  had  in  noting  the  sort  of  character 
most  appreciated  in  the  books  read  at  this  period.  You 
remember  that  the  fiction  that  holds  both  boys  and 

110 


Hero  Worship 


111 


girls  is  the  sort  that  deals  with  exciting  adventures, 
exploration,  fighting,  school  athletics  and  sports ;  that 
in  addition,  older  boys  enjoy  details  of  workmanship, 
and  girls  like  stories  about  other  girls — boarding-school 
life  with  its  descriptions  of  friendships,  jealousies,  and 
innocence  triumphing  over  unjust  suspicion.  We  saw 
also  that  though  pure  imaginative  games  are  rather  on 
the  decrease,  yet  the  individual  imagination  may  be 
much  preoccupied  with  picturing  oneself  performing 
thrilling  feats. 

If  we  analyze  these  characters,  we  find  certain  out¬ 
standing  features  in  common.  The  ball  player,  the 
pioneer,  the  bandit,  the  sea  captain,  the  soldier  of  for¬ 
tune  are  alike  in  exhibiting  physical  prowess.  They  all 
achieve  the  impossible  against  overwhelming  odds ;  they 
all  prove  superior  to  every  type  of  opposition.  Fur¬ 
ther,  they  are  fearless,  skillful  in  some  physical  tech¬ 
nique,  and,  to  maintain  interest,  they  must  be  in  cour¬ 
ageous  action  practically  all  the  time.  For  the  weakling 
our  Juniors  have  contempt  rather  than  pity,  with  the 
timid  they  show  impatience ;  at  the  romantic  senti¬ 
mentalist  they  hoot  derision.  Not  without  reason  is 
this  age  period  termed  dry  and  hard,  since  there  is  so 
little  responsive  thrill  to  pure  beauty  as  such,  or  to  vir¬ 
tues  such  as  patience,  desire  for  truth,  benevolence,  or 
to  intellectual  and  artistic  superiority.  Some  years 
later  homage  to  these  will  be  paid,  and  also  to  the  won¬ 
der  of  self-effacing  love.  It  is  not  until  well  into  the 
teens  that  interest  will  be  felt  in  growth  in  character. 
Now,  the  hero  is  emphatically  the  doer,  a  “mere  peg 
to  hang  adventures  on,”  a  nondescript  lay  figure  in  him- 


112  A  Study  of  the  Junior  Child 

self  perhaps,  but  outwardly  painted  in  marvelously 
crude,  bold  slashes  of  color. 

Concrete  heroes. — Besides  these  characters  in 
fiction  and  history  who  satisfy  the  imagination,  what 
actual  people  around  stir  them  to  admiration  ?  Some 
heroes  are  carried  over  from  an  earlier  period  of  child¬ 
hood,  but  in  a  more  personal,  less  general  way.  Thus, 
one  favorite  is  the  brakeman  on  the  train  on  which  a 
group  of  children  ride  daily  to  school — not  just  any 
brakeman  such  as  the  five-year-old  imagines  himself  to 
be  in  his  dramatic  game,  but  this  particular,  friendly, 
authoritative  Frank.  Then  again,  there  is  the  police¬ 
man  at  the  traffic  corner — not  just  any  policeman,  but 
just  that  Mr.  O’Connor  who  pilots  hundreds  of  chil¬ 
dren  as  they  go  to  school,  who  greets  so  many  by  name, 
but  is  so  peremptory  in  his  commands  and  so  implicitly 
obeyed.  Charlie  Chaplin,  Houdini,  the  clown  in  the 
circus,  the  real  live  baseball  star,  these  are  other  heroes 
less  often  seen,  but  known  through  the  medium  of 
newspaper  or  picture. 

What  is  the  common  characteristic  of  these?  Again 
it  is  power,  manifest,  physical,  undoubted.  At  a  signal 
or  slight  motion  of  theirs  something  happens,  either  in 
material  objects  or  in  the  behavior  of  crowds.  Never¬ 
theless,  he-who-must-be-obeyed,  or  he-who-causes- 
effects  is  not  a  personal  hero  if  he  is  unfriendly  in  atti¬ 
tude.  Gruffness  that  is  the  expression  of  morose  sur¬ 
liness  repels  children  as  surely  as  gruffness  that  covers 
real  good  will  proves  no  disguise  to  them,  so  magnet¬ 
ically  are  they  drawn  to  the  comradeship  beneath. 

The  athlete,  then,  the  fighter,  the  powerful  authority 


Hero  Worship 


113 


are  heroes;  and  we  should  rejoice  that  manliness  and 
strength,  even  in  its  cruder  forms,  are  the  qualities  that 
appeal.  Power  over  things  is  also  appreciated.  He- 
who-makes-things-happen,  and  he-who-produces-effects 
wins  respectful  attention.  Penetrate  to  the  center  of 
attraction  of  a  crowd  of  boys,  and  you  will  find  them 
absorbed  in  watching  some  such  processes  as  mixing 
concrete,  repairing  machinery,  or  even  merely  changing 
the  landscape  by  digging.  The  craftsman,  then,  holds 
second  rank  as  hero. 

But  apart  from  these  types  of  adults,  the  one  who 
really  excites  the  most  direct,  yet  blind  worship  from 
ten-  to  twelve-year-old  boys  is,  interestingly  enough, 
some  boy  three  or  four  years  older  who  is  a  leader  not 
of  their  gang,  but  of  his  own  age  group.  Him  the 
youngsters  not  so  much  like  as  follow  and  serve,  if 
permitted,  with  dog-like  devotion,  though  he  prefers  to 
mix  with  his  own  kind  and  seldom  tolerates  their  com¬ 
pany  very  long.  From  this  lordly  being  a  hint  is  more 
effective  than  a  long  exhortation  from  an  adult  often  is. 
Should  he  require  some  one  to  go  on  an  errand  half 
a  dozen  of  them  will  be  tumbling  over  each  other  to 
render  service.  Should  he  graciously  dispense  favors 
they  will  bask  in  the  grateful  sunshine.  Should  he 
loftily  disdain  their  presence  or  their  toadying,  they 
will  creep  to  the  miserable  banishment  he  decrees.  And 
as  imitation  is  the  sincerest  form  of  flattery,  so  does 
their  intense  admiration  lead  them  to  copy  their  hero’s 
gestures,  his  intonation,  his  slang,  his  chosen  swear¬ 
words.  His  gait,  his  manner  of  pitching  ball,  his  pos¬ 
tures  are  so  faithfully  reproduced  that  by  carefully  ob- 


114  A  Study  of  the  Junior  Child 

serving  a  younger  boy  the  model  can  often  be  guessed. 

How  all-important  it  is,  then,  that  the  habits  of  the 
idolized  one  should  be  sufficiently  good  to  copy,  that  his 
ideals  and  voiced  opinions  should  be  worth  adopting! 
His  influence  is  so  potent  over  these  younger  boys  that, 
if  it  be  a  desirable  one,  the  problem  of  training  these 
Juniors  is  well  on  the  way  to  be  solved.  So  true  is 
this  that  in  the  old  established  boys’  schools  the  most 
effort  is  spent  upon  instilling  the  right  ideals  into  these 
fourteen-  to  sixteen-year-old  boys,  knowing  that  they 
in  turn  will  set  the  tone,  will  pass  on  the  ancient  tra¬ 
ditions  to  the  younger  ones,  and  exact  from  them  the 
best  behavior  in  accord  therewith.  Even  in  a  family 
the  same  thing  is  frequently  seen  between  brothers  four 
years  or  so  apart  in  age. 

Besides  this  chief  danger  in  hero  worship,  that  the 
hero  may  be  unworthy  of  imitation — a  clear  case  of 
misplaced  trust  and  the  establishment  of  bad  habits — 
there  are  dangers  for  the  worshipers  in  the  reaction  of 
their  own  attitudes  upon  themselves,  though  not  nearly 
as  serious  now  as  in  the  teen  age  to  follow.  One  is 
lest  the  emotional,  sentimental  side  be  developed  at  the 
expense  of  clear  vision.  Not  particularly  strong  in 
critical  analysis  in  any  case,  they  may  be  so  dazzled  by 
the  hero  that  they  fail  to  discriminate  in  any  way,  ad¬ 
miring  everything  about  him,  dross  and  gold  alike. 
Thus,  distorted  ideas  of  worth  may  influence  their 
thinking  and  their  actions  for  too  long.  If  the  idol  is 
suddenly  revealed  to  have  clay  feet,  the  shock  of  disil¬ 
lusionment  seems  too  great  to  be  borne.  More  often 
they  gradually  outgrow  the  attitude,  or  replace  the  idol 


Hero  Worship 


115 


with  another,  so  to  speak.  Another  danger  is  that  their 
behavior  may  be  erratic  to  the  point  of  being  ridiculous. 
With  the  overromantic  attachment  particularly,  this 
is  likely  to  be  true.  A  sickly  sentimentalism  prompts 
social  conduct  that  is  embarrassing  to  the  idolized  one, 
and  a  bad  precedent  for  good  manners  now,  and  self- 
control  in  love  affairs  later.  In  severe  cases  tasks  are 
neglected  while  the  worshiper  loiters,  longing  for  at¬ 
tention,  or  performing  any  kind  of  queer  antics  merely 
to  get  noticed. 

Another  danger  is  that  the  sense  of  loyalty  to  either 
hero  or  group — to  be  discussed  later — may  be  misdi¬ 
rected  so  that  secrecy  is  maintained  at  the  wrong  time. 
Rather  than  betray  their  friend  or  their  gang,  children 
will  be  silent  when  timely  information  would  bring 
much  needed  help.  Dislike  of  telling  tales  so  colors 
their  interpretation  of  the  seriousness  of  a  situation 
that  evils  may  go  unchecked  and  the  morals  of  the 
group  be  imperiled. 

Girls’  admirations. — The  same  sort  of  hero  in 
fiction  appeals  to  girls,  as  well  as  the  public  character 
vested  with  power.  When  it  comes  to  patterning  them¬ 
selves  after  some  contemporary  model  they,  too,  may 
become  volunteer  feudal  retainers  of  an  older  member 
of  their  sex.  This  overlord  may  be  an  adolescent  girl, 
but  is  quite  as  likely  to  be  a  much  older  woman.  Her 
the  eleven-year-olds  adore.  To  hear  her  adversely 
criticized  is  acute  suffering  to  them,  so  blindly  and  ro¬ 
mantically  are  they  devoted.  But  though  blind,  girls 
are  not  nearly  so  inarticulate  as  boys.  Where  both 
are  led  to  seek  the  company  of  the  adored  one,  boys 


116  A  Study  of  the  Junior  Child 

often  express  their  chivalry  by  action  only,  and  coni' 
pensate  for  courteous,  helpful  deeds  by  a  studied  un¬ 
graciousness  of  manner  and  speech.  Not  for  worlds 
would  they  risk  being  called  “teacher’s  pet,”  for  in¬ 
stance.  Girls,  on  the  contrary,  are  more  ready  with 
protestations  of  affection,  with  attempted  caresses,  and 
may  be  addicted  to  fetishism  in  treasuring  mere  belong¬ 
ings  of  the  beloved  being.  The  relationship  sought  is 
more  personal  with  girls,  and  more  exclusive  too,  so 
that  girls  oftener  than  boys  suffer  attacks  of  jealousy 
or  morbid  brooding  when  some  other  girl  seems  to 
win  favor.  Where  boys  will  serve  contentedly  in  a 
group,  and  when  summarily  dismissed  fall  back  on 
each  other’s  company,  girls  will  compete  for  privileges, 
and  bear  discomfiture  alone. 

Group  loyalty. — Herein  lies  the  secret  of  the 
different  ways  in  which  boys  and  girls  develop  at  this 
time.  They  arrive  at  self-realization  by  somewhat  dif¬ 
ferent  means,  due  to  the  relative  strength  in  them  of 
certain  instincts.  From  eleven  on  has  been  termed  the 
age  of  loyalty  by  Joseph  Lee.  This  is  partly  because  a 
strong  desire  to  “belong”  drives  from  75  to  90  per  cent 
of  boys  between  eleven  and  fifteen  to  be  part  of  a  gang, 
in  which  loyalty  is  the  chief  virtue.  From  eight  years 
old,  indeed,  boys  are  more  obviously  gregarious  than 
girls,  and  manifest  a  greater  desire  to  foregather  with 
their  kind.  There  is  no  definite  plan  at  first,  certainly 
no  real  organization  in  the  sense  of  selecting  members 
or  officers,  just  a  drifting  together  of  boys  of  like  age 
in  the  same  neighborhood  as  simply  as  the  herding  of 
cows  or  sheep,  and  as  irresistibly  as  the  attracting  and 


Hero  Worship 


117 


coalescing  of  the  bubbles  in  your  teacup.  Having  come 
together,  they  may  or  may  not  find  congenial  occupation 
of  a  worth-while  sort,  and  they  are  easily  at  the  mercy 
of  whatever  impulses  the  more  forceful  spirits  among 
them  may  feel.  In  the  process  of  finding  their  own 
level,  socially,  the  natural  leader  comes  to  the  top  and 
dominates  the  rest.  This  may  be  because  his  sugges¬ 
tions  prove  interesting,  or  because  he  wins  dominion 
by  the  primitive  means  of  fighting  it  out.  He  may  hold 
his  place  until  another  boy  forces  his  way  up  and  upsets 
the  balance  of  power;  or  he  may  be  the  chief  in  one 
field  of  action  while  another  is  the  leader  in  some  other 
sphere  where  he  is  superior.  Such  natural  groups  in¬ 
clude  six  to  eight  boys  as  a  rule,  less  often  a  dozen, 
rarely  enlarging  to  as  many  as  twenty.  Gradually  the 
group  consciousness  emerges  until  at  ten  years  old  the 
gang  feels  the  need  of  a  name  by  which  to  refer  to  it¬ 
self.  The  Tough  Kids,  the  Dowser  Glums,  the  Wild 
Indians,  the  Wharf  Rats,  the  Moonlight  Howlers,  the 
Red  Devils,  the  Egg  Men,  the  Sluggers  are  samples  of 
appellations  which  give  some  index  to  the  aspirations, 
if  not  to  the  activities  of  the  gang.  More  titles  are 
derived  from  the  locality  where  most  of  the  members 
live,  just  as  our  national  names  of  Danes,  Romans, 
Mexicans  are  used.  Individual  members  are  known 
to  each  other  by  some  nickname,  bestowed  generally  by 
reason  of  its  descriptive  appropriateness.  Pug, 
Frenchie,  Red,  explain  themselves;  Twister  refers  to 
ball-pitching  ability. 

With  the  name,  a  habitation  is  needed  to  express  the 
group  idea.  Either  they  preempt  some  special  spot  as 


118  A  Study  of  the  Junior  Child 

a  meeting  ground  to  which  no  other  gang  may  lay 
claim,  or  if  opportunity  offers  they  erect  their  own 
“hang  out,”  be  it  a  shanty  in  the  woods,  or  a  shelter 
in  some  vacant  city  lot  painstakingly  constructed  from 
old  boxes,  matting,  discarded  linoleum,  and  any  other 
handy  waste  material.  Here  the  tribe  makes  its  head¬ 
quarters,  sits  in  solemn  conclave,  and  delights  in  cook¬ 
ing  such  provisions  as  its  members  can  acquire  for  that 
perennial  hungry  feeling.  The  gang  may  sometimes 
adopt  a  distinguishing  badge,  and  arrange  initiations 
for  would-be  members.  More  often  they  just  wait  and 
try  out  the  new  boy,  letting  him  belong,  as  he  so  craves 
to  do,  if  he  proves  a  “good  fellow.”  This  implies,  first 
and  foremost,  that  he  is  no  coward,  no  telltale,  and  that 
he  will  stick  by  the  gang.  They  may  have  few  or  no 
rules ;  but  the  boy  who  sneaks,  or  in  any  way  betrays 
the  gang  to  its  natural  foes  is  put  out  of  the  gang  as 
inevitably  as  boys  are  boys.  Thus,  the  first  and  great 
virtue  is  loyalty,  developed  as  far  as  the  group  con¬ 
sciousness  extends. 

Common  ends  and  purposes. — Much  might  be 
said  of  the  natural  activities  of  the  gang.  These  surely 
must  satisfy  the  restlessness  of  the  age  and  provide  con¬ 
tinual  excitement.  Just  what  form  this  excitement 
will  take  depends  somewhat  on  the  social  status  of  the 
boys  composing  the  group,  the  ideals  in  the  homes  from 
which  they  come,  and  the  special  interests  of  the  leader. 
Some  groups  spend  all  their  time  together  in  athletics 
of  some  sort,  and  all  groups  include  games  some  of 
the  time.  Adventures  are  sought  by  land  and  water, 
not  to  mention  fire.  Fights  with  other  gangs  are 


Hero  Worship 


119 


a  common  occurrence,  indeed  a  necessity  at  some  stage 
or  other.  The  long  tramp  with  picnic  meals,  the  rides 
stolen  on  freight  cars,  the  days  spent  on  hunting  or 
fishing  expeditions,  testify  to  the  strength  of  the  migra¬ 
tory  tendency.  Devices  to  plague  people  “to  get  the 
chase”  show  the  hunting  impulse  in  another  form. 
Raids  on  orchards,  petty  larceny  of  edibles  of  all  kinds, 
thefts  of  junk,  illustrate  the  predatory  instincts.  These 
five  forms  of  activity  are  the  most  frequent — athletics 
and  games,  fighting,  wandering  afield,  plaguing  people 
and  stealing.  Obviously,  some  of  them  are  extremely 
likely  to  get  boys  into  trouble  socially.  Yet  in  the  se¬ 
quent  conflict  with  authority  the  loyalty  of  the  gang  is 
proved  in  that  its  members  escape  or  suffer  as  a  body, 
but  find  it  unthinkable  for  one  to  save  himself  at  the 
expense  of  the  rest. 

Loyalty  is  felt  also  for  members  of  the  family,  the 
social  unit  in  which  the  boys  have  functioned  earlier. 
Boasting  and  bragging  of  father’s  and  brother’s  prow¬ 
ess  is  a  familiar  form  in  which  this  shows,  also  the  fact 
that  no  boy  will  tolerate  insulting  remarks  about  his 
mother. 

Working  out,  too,  from  the  sense  of  belonging  to  a 
certain  locality  we  find  an  incipient  loyalty  to  the  neigh¬ 
borhood,  the  school,  the  small  town,  intensified  to  con¬ 
sciousness  by  the  latent  hostility  felt  for  boys  from 
other  neighborhoods,  other  schools,  other  towns.  Just 
here  is  the  contact  we  need  to  transform  the  narrow 
loyalty  to  the  small  group  into  the  wider  loyalty  to  the 
large  group.  If  we  do  not  want  to  foster  the  preju¬ 
diced  loyalty  in  adult  life  which  is  merely  an  enlarged 


120  A  Study  of  the  Junior  Child 

selfishness,  we  must  see  to  it  that  boys  do  not  suffer 
from  arrested  development  at  this  stage.  Their  small 
unit  must  be  one  of  several  coequal  units  integrated 
into  a  larger  whole,  just  as  our  local  societies  are  but 
branches  of  a  state  or  nation-wide  organization.  Their 
grade  in  school  is  thus  merged  into  the  whole  school, 
and  is  not  sufficient  unto  itself ;  the  school  again  is  but 
a  part  of  the  town,  county,  and  eventually  State  system. 
So  their  small  gang  must  articulate,  or  federate,  if  we 
want  to  widen  the  horizon  to  make  room  for  the  grow¬ 
ing  social  self. 

Girls’  groups. — Girls,  as  already  stated,  are  more 
personal  in  their  relationships  than  boys.  A  frequent 
necessity  is  one  special  chum,  to  whom  they  early  prom¬ 
ise  to  tell  everything,  from  whom  they  will  have  no 
secrets,  and  whose  secrets,  in  turn,  they  will  never, 
never  tell.  Alas,  when  the  six  to  ten  months’  special 
attraction  is  over,  a  girl  seldom  feels  the  obligation  of 
keeping  that  chum’s  confidences  inviolate,  and  gives  as 
sufficient  explanation  of  a  betrayal,  “Oh,  but  I’m  not 
friends  with  her  any  more.”  They  play  in  groups  and 
like  to  feel  they  “belong”  with  the  older  girls,  but  the 
group  consciousness  as  such  does  not  crystallize  into 
anything  very  definite  or  very  long-lived.  After  ten 
years  old  we  are  more  apt  to  find  them  forming  sets, 
cliques,  or  clubs,  the  chief  charm  of  which  is  the  ex¬ 
clusiveness  which  spells  secrecy.  Even  so,  the  bonds 
which  unite  them  seem  less  tough  in  fiber,  the  identifi¬ 
cation  of  the  individual’s  interests  with  those  of  the 
group  is  less  complete  than  is  the  case  with  boys.  Their 
loyalty  is  weaker,  and  consequently  needs  very  careful 


Hero  Worship 


121 


fostering.  The  activities  of  their  groups  are  far  less 
often  athletic,  and  scarcely  ever  include  fighting  and 
raiding.  Adventure  is  welcome,  but  girls  seldom  go  so 
far  from  home  and  do  such  daring  things  in  a  group, 
as  boys  do.  The  club  for  the  club’s  sake,  just  for  the 
fun  of  having  a  secret  society,  is  the  thing  five  times 
as  often  as  with  boys,  according  to  Sheldon’s  statistics ; 
clubs  are  formed,  too,  for  attending  places  of  amuse¬ 
ment,  for  writing  and  producing  their  own  plays.  Lit¬ 
erary,  aesthetic,  philanthropic  aims  all  figure  also, 
though  not  so  often  now  as  they  will  a  couple  of  years 
later. 

Utilization  of  the  gang  spirit. — The  five  chief 
activities  of  groups  must  be  remembered  when  we  set 
about  enlisting  children  in  social  service.  Physical  ac¬ 
tivity  there  must  be  for  the  boys,  and  a  surety  of  fun 
and  enjoyment  for  both  boys  and  girls.  Roaming, 
hunting,  and  fighting  can  be  provided  for,  in  sublimated 
forms  when  we  consider  that  the  church  fights  not 
against  flesh  and  blood  but  against  the  powers  of  dark¬ 
ness  and  wickedness.  Eleven-  and  twelve-year-old 
squads  make  most  efficient  aids  in  running  down  vio¬ 
lators  of  civic  regulations.  With  their  help  public 
spirit  has  been  aroused  to  improve  sanitary  conditions 
in  the  streets.  They  have  canvassed  for  signatures  to 
favor  park  beautifying  or  to  destroy  disease-bearing 
vegetation.  They  have  given  publicity  to  schemes  for 
provision  for  the  sick,  old,  and  helpless  in  the  com¬ 
munity.  In  enlisting  children  in  work  of  this  kind  we 
must  remember  to  select  a  few  natural  leaders  and  let 
them  pick  their  own  groups,  rather  than  recruit  them 


122  A  Study  of  the  Junior  Child 

severally  and  individually.  As  intergroup  competition 
develops,  it  must  be  directed  towards  getting  the  best 
record,  in  quality  and  permanence  of  work  as  well  as 
in  the  amount  done. 

For  Discussion 

1.  What  results  were  obtained  from  the  fore-exercise 
to  this  chapter?  What  growth  in  the  ideas  of  patri¬ 
otism  is  seen  between  nine  and  twelve  years  old? 

2.  How  could  gang  loyalty  be  harnessed  into  service 
for  civic  loyalty  in  your  community  ? 

3.  What  is  the  disadvantage  to  children  of  Junior 
age  of  having  the  older  boys  and  girls  at  the  high 
school  in  a  different  building,  as  is  so  often  the  case? 

4.  It  is  said  that  women  would  not  be  so  rude  to 
each  other  as  they  are  if  they  had  been  apprenticed  to 
the  fellowship  of  the  gang  in  these  formative  years. 
Why  might  this  be  true? 

5.  In  what  ways  do  Boy  Scouts  and  Girl  Scouts  uti¬ 
lize  and  develop  gang  loyalty?  Is  there  a  branch  of 
these,  or  one  for  the  younger  “Cubs”  in  your  neighbor¬ 
hood  ? 

6.  1  “The  common  mistake  is  to  pick  out  the  proper 
number  of  boys  of  about  the  proper  age,  but  with  small 
regard  to  their  other  qualities  and  out  of  these  to  form  a 
class.  ...  It  is  not  a  natural  group,  and  it  never  de¬ 
velops  the  internal  structure  of  a  real  gang.  There 
may  be  too  many  natural  leaders.  There  may  be  too 
few.  .  .  .  More  commonly,  the  class  contains  a  con¬ 
siderable  fragment  of  one  gang,  with  one  or  two  indi¬ 
viduals  out  of  several  others,  and  perhaps  an  occa- 
sional  outlier  who  belongs  to  none.  The  remainders  of 
the  broken  gangs  are  in  other  Sunday  Schools.  Thus 


1  Quoted  from  Puffer’s  “The  Boy  and  His  Gang,”  where  speaking  of 
Sunday  Schools,  page  166. 


Hero  Worship 


123 


the  class  remains  always  at  cross-purposes  with  the 
boys’  native  impulses ;  and  rarely,  therefore,  wins  their 
instinctive  loyalty. 

“The  remedy  is  .  .  .  organize  ...  on  the  basis  of 
natural  affiliations.  Found  each  on  some  spontaneous 
group.  Add,  if  you  think  it  wise,  some  boys  whose 
ganginess  is  less  developed.  But  don’t  put  fragments 
of  well  defined  gangs  together.” 

Discuss  this  suggestion. 

7.  Pufifer  also  says  i1  “The  teacher,  then,  in  dealing 
with  boys,  must  learn  to  think  in  terms  of  gangs  as  well 
as  in  terms  of  individuals.  She  must,  in  certain  cases, 
go  even  further  than  this,  and  think  of  gangs  entirely 
and  not  of  individuals  at  all.”  Why?  And  can  you 
illustrate  “in  certain  cases”  ? 

8.  How  does  working  together  toward  a  common 
goal  help  develop  the  gang  spirit? 

9.  What  does  the  boy  who  does  not  belong  to  a 
gang  miss  in  the  way  of  character-training? 


1  Page  185. 


CHAPTER  IX 


INDIVIDUALITY 

Fore-Exercises 

1.  Review  Chapter  III  for  differences  in  mental  ca¬ 
pacity,  Chaper  IV  for  differences  in  physical  growth, 
Chapter  I  for  sex  differences  in  play,  Chapter  VIII  for 
sex  differences  in  gang  adherence. 

2.  Think  of  the  two  most  unusual  children  you  know. 
Write  down  the  chief  characteristics  of  each,  and  com¬ 
pare.  Can  you  tell  at  all  the  probable  cause  of  these 
differences  ? 

3.  Character-rating.  It  is  instructive  to  rate  a  child 
for  different  qualities.  Practice  this  in  the  following 
way.  First  fix  in  your  mind  a  scale  of  five  degrees. 
A  rating  of  3  is  to  represent  an  average  amount  of  a 
quality;  a  rating  of  1  would  mean  something  that  is 
unusually  conspicuous  in  a  child ;  a  rating  of  5  some¬ 
thing  conspicuous  for  its  absence  or  the  presence  of  its 
opposite.  In  between  would  come  a  rating  of  2,  mean¬ 
ing  superior,  above  average  but  not  extremely  remark¬ 
able,  and  a  rating  of  4  meaning  inferior,  below  average 
but  not  absolutely  lacking.  Get  this  fivefold  scale 
clearly  in  mind. 

Then  select  one  child,  consider  him  carefully  and 
rate  him  on  this  scale  for  each  of  the  fifteen  qualities : 
conscientiousness,  dependability,  even  temper,  obedi¬ 
ence,  unselfishness,  will  power,  industry,  persistence, 
courage,  control  of  emotions,  cheerfulness,  sense  of 
humor,  initiative,  leadership,  social  adaptability.  Put 
these  in  a  column  and  allow  spaces  for  your  scale  steps, 
mark  in  each  rating  with  a  heavy  vertical  line.  Then 
connect  these  vertical  lines  with  light  horizontal  lines, 

124 


Individuality 


125 


and  you  will  have  what  is  called  a  character  profile. 
Here  is  a  sample  of  one  for  a  twelve-year-old  girl : 

5  4  3  2  1 

Conscientiousness 

Dependability  - ' 

Even  Temper 

Obedience 

Unselfishness 

Will  Power 

Industry 

Persistence 

Courage 

Control  of  Emotions 
Cheerfulness 
Sense  of  Humor 
Initiative 
Leadership 

Social  Adaptability  ; 

This  gives  us  graphically  where  Anna  is  weak  or 
strong — in  the  opinion  of  the  one  judging  her.  The 
further  to  the  right,  the  stronger  Anna  is ;  the  further 
to  the  left  the  weaker  she  is  in  that  trait.  We  can  see 
quickly  where  she  is  strong,  and  where  weak. 

If  you  think  wise,  you  might  ask  the  day-school 
teacher,  and  the  parents,  even  the  child  himself,  to 
make  a  similar  series  of  judgments.  Explain  very 
clearly  just  what  you  want  done,  and  why.  Then  make 
the  profile  charts,  and  compare  how  far  you  all  agree. 

To  deal  comprehensively  with  the  topic  of  individu¬ 
ality  we  should  need  to  take  up  every  phase  of  child 
life,  and  point  out,  not  the  general  characteristics  of 


126  A  Study  of  the  junior  Child 

the  majority,  but  the  directions  in  which  individuals 
tend  to  differ,  and  the  extremes  they  may  reach.  Fur¬ 
ther,  we  should  need  to  consider  all  the  multifarious 
combinations  of  character  traits  that  might  conceivably 
occur,  and  as  we  actually  find  them  exhibited  in  various 
children,  with,  further  still,  degrees  of  difference  observ¬ 
able  due  to  the  relative  strength  of  these  several  traits. 
Such  a  task  is  most  fascinating,  but  almost  endless.  To 
set  some  limit  to  our  survey  let  us  first  consider  the  main 
causes  of  individual  differences,  and  secondly,  some 
special  lines  in  which  to  look  for  the  manifestations  of 
these  differences. 

Heredity  as  a  cause  of  individuality. — One  of  the 

biggest  factors  in  causing  individual  differences  is  that 
of  original  nature  as  determined  by  race,  nationality, 
and  family.  What  children  are  is  determined  for 
them  in  large  measure  by  the  many  ancestors  of  their 
race  and  nation.  To  their  general  make-up  their  parents, 
grandparents,  great-grandparents,  and  progenitors 
further  back  still  but  in  ever-decreasing  potency,  have 
contributed.  Occasionally  we  see  a  '‘throwback,”  where 
a  child  seems  to  resemble  some  fairly  remote  ancestor 
in  face  or  form,  perhaps  in  temperament  too,  if  tradi¬ 
tion  holds  good ;  but  more  often  they  resemble  their 
more  immediate  forbears.  Of  course,  as  you  object  at 
once,  all  six  or  eight  children  of  one  set  of  parents  are 
not  precisely  alike,  though  they  have  the  same  ances¬ 
tors.  No  more  are  a  whole  litter  of  pups  born  all  at¬ 
one  time,  still  less,  children,  born  at  separate  times. 
Here  the  law  of  variation  comes  in,  and  the  law  of 
chance  selection  among  the  infinite  possible  combina- 


Individuality 


127 


tions  of  traits.  But  the  fact  remains  that  character¬ 
istics  are  handed  down,  the  uncontrollable  ones  such 
as  blue  eyes,  the  improvable  characteristics  such  as 
musical  capacity,  and  the  vaguely  described  traits  such 
as  ability  to  manage  other  people.  No  wonder,  then, 
it  pays  to  get  acquainted  with  the  fathers  and  mothers 
of  your  children,  so  that  you  may  take  stock,  as  it 
were,  of  the  material  you  have  to  deal  with.  Some 
facts  about  the  family  history  would  also  be  enlighten¬ 
ing  if  you  could  secure  them ;  for  instance,  if  there  are 
eminent  people  in  the  ancestry,  or  peculiar  people, 
neurotic  people,  very  superior  people  in  one  direction, 
markedly  inferior  in  another,  and  so  forth.  If  there 
have  been  very  opposing,  and  very  strong,  traits  among 
the  ancestors  there  is  the  greater  likelihood  of  consid¬ 
erable  differences  among  the  children,  or  even  of  con¬ 
flicting  tendencies  in  one  child. 

That  these  variations  are  real  and  important  may  be 
realized  in  comparing  the  children  in  one  family  as  they 
appeared  at  some  given  age.  In  spite  of  the  similar 
home  training  they  receive  from  conscientious  and 
consistent  parents,  brothers  and  sisters  do  differ  very 
widely,  so  we  can  judge  how  strong  the  original  nature 
must  be,  with  its  many  varieties  of  mixtures  of  traits. 
Here  are  slight  pictures  of  five  children  in  one  family 
as  they  each  were  at  ten  years  old.  Jessie  was  shy, 
timid,  sensitive,  thought  and  moved  slowly,  could 
hardly  ever  see  a  joke.  She  was  above  her  normal 
grade  in  school,  but  slow  and  painfully  conscientious 
in  her  work.  She  had  almost  no  sense  of  rhythm,  could 
not  sing  in  pitch  but  was  most  ambitious  to  learn  the 


128  A  Study  of  the  Junior  Child 

violin.  She  was  dreamy,  and  forgetful  of  promises. 
Her  brother  Frank  at  ten  was  timid  to  the  point  of 
physical  cowardice.  He  was  apt  to  take  strong  dislikes 
to  people,  could  be  easily  exasperated  into  fits  of  stub¬ 
born  anger.  He  showed  some  originality  of  thinking, 
but  no  idea  of  accepting  responsibility.  He  seldom 
showed  any  initiative,  was  not  good  in  sports.  He  was 
absolutely  truthful,  and  the  soul  of  honor  in  word  and 
deed.  He  played  the  piano  moderately  well  and  could 
sing  very  well.  John  at  the  same  age  showed  a  quiet 
thoughtfulness  for  other  people,  and  more  good  judg¬ 
ment  in  practical  matters  than  Jessie  may  ever  attain. 
He  had  a  sunny,  even,  good  temper,  and  great  ability 
to  get  on  with  other  people.  He  had  a  much  more 
pleasing  voice  than  Frank,  but  far  less  interest  in 
music.  He  was  very  self-willed.  He  was  good, 
though  not  markedly  superior,  in  school  studies,  but 
above  the  average  in  sports  and  physical  endurance. 
A  sister,  Cora,  had  a  school  record  barely  up  to  aver¬ 
age,  and  very  slight  musical  ability.  She  had  a  strong 
sense  of  justice,  albeit  she  was  greedy  and  lazy.  She 
managed  other  people  very  well,  could  size  up  a  situa¬ 
tion  with  good  judgment.  She  shirked  work  and 
shirked  responsibility,  though  she  liked  to  domineer 
over  her  companions.  Another  sister,  Madge,  was  a 
boisterous  tomboy,  afraid  of  nothing  and  nobody,  im¬ 
pulsive  and  quick,  full  of  fun  and  merriment.  She 
was  unusually  bright  at  school  work,  but  was  too  im¬ 
patient  to  work  for  finished  results.  She  could  sing 
extremely  well,  and  would  have  played  the  piano  well 
had  she  ever  applied  herself  to  practice.  She  was  quite 


Individuality 


129 


willing  to  trick  or  cheat  to  get  her  own  way,  but  did 
not  often  do  so,  as  others  gave  in  readily  to  her  winning 
charm.  Jessie’s  brooding  indecision  would  be  as  for¬ 
eign  to  her  as  Frank’s  fits  of  temper. 

These  differences  persist,  and  become  more  marked 
as  the  children  get  older,  in  spite  of  the  home  training. 
The  ideals  and  habits  these  brothers  and  sisters  have 
in  common  may  be  due  to  heredity  or  to  the  environ¬ 
ment  of  a  cultured  Christian  home — who  can  tell  ? 
There  is  a  fairly  strong  physical  resemblance,  undoubt¬ 
edly  due  to  heredity.  Are  the  obedience,  the  courtesy, 
the  good  table  manners,  the  ideas  of  sanitation,  the 
happy,  clean  fun,  the  interest  in  each  other’s  concerns, 
which  characterize  them  all,  not  due  to  the  wise  foster¬ 
ing  care  of  the  father  and  mother? 

Differences  due  to  environment. — When  we  com¬ 
pare  children  from  different  homes,  certain  traits  seem 
to  have  been  developed,  some  habits  acquired  as  a  re¬ 
sult  of  the  training,  or  lack  of  it,  they  have  experienced. 
Here  is  Elizabeth,  typically  “spoiled.”  She  expects 
her  own  way  all  the  time,  has  never  learned  to  attend, 
promptly  and  obey,  has  been  encouraged  to  show  off 
and  attract  attention,  so  that  now  she  seems  unpleas¬ 
antly  pert.  Roy  has  no  manners  or  social  etiquette 
whatever ;  he  is  belligerently  rude  in  a  crowd.  Powell 
is  quiet,  almost  colorless  at  home,  with  perfect  table 
manners  and  instant  compliance  with  requests.  Among 
his  friends  he  is  the  ringleader  in  mischief,  plotting 
many  escapades  of  a  most  satisfying  sort.  He  fits  his 
habits  to  the  particular  environment  that  is  responsible 
for  training  him. 


130  A  Study  of  the  Junior  Child 

Temporary  adjustments  to  environment. — This  is 
an  important  fact  to  remember,  that  training  received 
in  one  line  will  not  necessarily  be  transferred  to  an¬ 
other — that  habits  formed  to  suit  certain  people  will 
not  necessarily  carry  over  to  the  adjustments  to  be 
made  to  other  people.  Thus,  children  trained  to  be 
polite  to  their  teacher  may  be  rude  to  their  aunt ;  those 
who  are  overbearing  at  home  may  be  submissive  in  the 
gang.  It  is  only  as  the  sort  of  habits  of  reaction  are 
demanded  in  all  sorts  of  varied  situations  that  what 
we  might  call  a  generalized  habit  is  formed.  It  is  only 
as  we  foster  emotional  attitudes  which  call  for  these 
same  actions  no  matter  what  the  environment,  that  we 
can  expect  children  to  appreciate  the  ideal  behind  the 
habit ;  and  only  as  we  consciously  widen  the  field  of 
possibility  where  habits  formed  in  narrow  lines  would 
be  appropriate,  that  we  can  speak  of  certain  traits  as 
characteristic  of  a  child.  Thus,  what  is  a  courteous 
child?  One  who  has  several  dozen  specific  habits  of 
speech  and  action  formed  to  guide  him  when  with  all 
•  sorts  of  adults,  relatives,  strangers,  foreigners,  of 
varied  social  status,  age,  and  either  sex.  The  emotional 
attitude  binding  all  these  specific  acts  into  the  abstract 
idea  of  courtesy  is  that  of  “in  honor  preferring  one 
another.”  Now,  if  a  child  has  not  had  this  emotional 
tone  consciously  brought  to  his  attention,  and  if  he 
has  received  training  in  a  few  specific  items  only,  his 
deportment  in  those  special  lines  may  be  beyond  criti¬ 
cism,  while  in  the  untutored  lines  he  appears  boorish, 
ill-bred,  rude.  This  is  quite  likely  to  be  the  case  in  the 
Junior  period,  since  ideals  do  not  function  very  largely 


Individuality 


131 


in  children’s  thinking,  and  as  yet  they  cannot,  in  the 
nature  of  things,  have  had  the  wide  and  varied  experi¬ 
ence  that  would  enable  them  to  form  all  the  specific 
habits  which  they  need.  So  too  with  other  generalized 
habits  of  obedience,  punctuality,  unselfishness  and  the 
like.  We  should  keep  this  in  mind,  therefore,  in  de¬ 
scribing  children,  especially  if  we  have  seen  them  under 
a  constant,  prescribed  set  of  conditions  only;  and  try 
to  say  definitely  under  what  circumstances  we  know 
they  will  act  thus  and  so,  rather  than  speak  in  vague, 
general  terms. 

Differences  due  to  age. — A  third  general  cause  of 
individual  differences  is  that  of  age.  Even  within  the 
short  span  of  years  from  nine  to  twelve  we  see  changes 
brought  about  simply  by  growing  older.  Our 'boys  and 
girls  ready  to  graduate  into  the  next  department  are 
in  many  respects  different  from  the  children  they  were 
when  they  came  from  the  Primary.  As  these  changes 
have  been  noted  in  each  chapter  we  will  simply  recall 
a  few  of  them  here.  Where  nine-year-olds  may  be  col¬ 
lecting  marbles,  the  older  ones  are  collecting  birds’  eggs 
or  stamps,  and  find  radio  outfits  increasingly  absorb¬ 
ing.  At  nine,  history  is  an  unassorted  mass  of  stories  ; 
at  twelve  it  is  oriented  somewhat  in  chronological 
sequence.  The  older  girls  are  ceasing  to  care  about 
dolls,  and  the  older  boys  are  merging  their  individual 
selves  with  the  corporate  individuality  of  the  gang. 
Fairy  stories  have  given  way  to  other  forms  of  narra¬ 
tive,  fact  as  well  as  fiction.  Memory  work  becomes 
constantly  easier  all  through  this  period;  judgment 
needed  in  reasoning  is  much  improved.  Abstract  ideas 


132  A  Study  of  the  Junior  Child 

are  formed  to  some  slight  extent  by  twelve,  thus  facili¬ 
tating  general  comprehension,  also  self-control  from 
ideals. 

Differences  due  to  sex. — Another  cause  of  indi¬ 
vidual  differences  is  the  fact  that  some  tendencies  seem 
much  stronger  than  others  according  to  whether  the 
subject  is  male  or  female.  The  mere  fact  of  being  a 
boy  or  a  girl  means  that  some  interests  are  likely  to 
prove  more  compelling  than  others.  This  is  more  true 
in  the  Junior  age  period  than  for  children  who  are 
much  younger.  Since  many  of  these  differences  have 
been  noted  under  each  topic  considered  in  previous 
chapters,  they  will  be  merely  summarized  here.  Boys 
care  more  for  things,  and  for  machinery,  than  girls. 
Girls  care  more  for  people  and  for  decorative  appear¬ 
ances.  This  shows  in  many  ways  in  their  play  and  in 
their  reading.  Boys  are  more  active  and  independent, 
fight  more,  mix  better  with  their  own  kind.  Girls  are 
more  personal  in  their  likes  and  dislikes,  more  demon¬ 
strative  and  voluble  in  their  affection,  feel  the  group 
solidarity  less  strongly.  Their  protective  tenderness 
frequently  reaches  out  to  babies  and  quite  small  chil¬ 
dren  ;  they  make  pets  of  cats  and  birds,  where  boys 
much  prefer  dogs.  They  mostly  profess  a  horror,  even 
now,  of  worms,  toads,  snakes  and  the  like,  while  boys 
are  interested  in  them,  and  seldom  feel  such  repug¬ 
nance.  Before  ten  and  a  half  or  eleven,  boys  are  taller 
and  heavier  than  girls ;  after  that  the  reverse  is  true. 
Boys  have  a  greater  vital  index  at  any  age;  girls  are 
anatomically  older  at  any  age.  Girls  mature  earlier 
than  boys,  few  beginning  this  process  before  twelve. 


Individuality 


133 


Ways  in  which  individuality  shows. — There  are 
four  main  directions  in  which  to  look  for  important  in¬ 
dividual  differences,  one  is  in  imagination,  another  is 
in  volition,  another  is  in  disposition  or  temperament, 
the  fourth  is  in  general  intelligence.  A  fifth,  that  of 
“goodness,”  may  be  the  object  of  our  special  interest, 
but  it  is  somewhat  a  resultant  of  these  other  things. 
Mere  physical  differences  will  be  omitted  from  con¬ 
sideration  here ;  the  rest  will  be  discussed  in  order. 

Differences  in  imagination.  —  Though  on  the 
whole  this  is  a  realistic,  matter-of-fact  period,  with  well- 
developed  ability  to  distinguish  between  the  imagined 
and  the  real,  yet  children  enjoy  a  good  deal  of  vivid, 
visual  mental  imagery.  Some  picture  to  themselves 
the  adventures  described  in  the  thrilling  literature  they 
favor,  and  are  disappointed  in  any  artist’s  interpreta¬ 
tion  ;  others  much  prefer  to  see  real  pictures,  either  in 
the  book  or  on  the  screen.  Some  few  hardly  ever 
think  in  terms  of  visual  imagery,  and  cannot  under¬ 
stand  those  who  talk  confidently  of  mental  scenery. 
Children  with  few  companions  frequently  retain  an 
imaginary  companion  from  earlier  years,  and  play  a 
sort  of  serial-story  daydream  with  invented  characters. 
Some  have  little  or  no  fancies  of  this  type,  others  can 
spin  yarns  as  fantastic  as  “Alice  in  Wonderland,”  and 
find  themselves  as  much  in  demand  among  other  chil¬ 
dren  as  was  the  jongleur  of  old  at  the  castle  gate. 

Differences  in  volition. — Though  this  is  chiefly  an 
impulsive  age,  some  children  are  obviously  of  the  slow, 
pondering  type,  finding  it  hard  to  act  quickly  if  two 
sides  of  the  question  are  presented,  and  becoming  al- 


134  A  Study  of  the  Junior  Child 

most  paralyzed  into  inaction  if  several  issues  are  to  be 
considered.  Others  may  be  slow  because  of  real  in¬ 
ertia.  They  never  seem  really  waked  up  to  interested 
action,  gripped  by  an  idea  of  their  own ;  they  work  up 
no  enthusiasms,  and  wait  always  for  their  cue  from 
some  one  else.  If  left  to  their  own  responsibility  they 
wait,  helplessly  passive,  unless  some  mechanical  habit 
comes  to  their  aid.  The  majority  rush  hastily  into 
action,  perhaps  because  of  the  real  dynamic  force  of 
the  impelling  idea,  perhaps  because  they  cannot  be  both¬ 
ered  to  take  the  time  to  think. 

Some  children  are  domineering  and  self-seeking  to 
the  point  of  being  bullies.  This,  curiously  enough,  is 
no  indication  of  a  strong  will  but  more  likely  a  camou¬ 
flage  for  very  different  feelings  beneath.  These  feel¬ 
ings  may  be  a  profound  self-distrust,  a  sense  of  inferi¬ 
ority,  a  fear  of  not  being  accepted  socially,  that  is  con¬ 
cealed  by  braggart  behavior.  Again  it  may  cloak  a 
morbid  desire  to  be  cruel,  which  should  lead  you  to 
suspect  a  neurotic  tendency,  with  probable  complica¬ 
tions  in  the  sex  life  later  on  if  not  straightened  out  in 
early  years. 

Differences  in  temperament. — A  third  way  in 
which  individuality  shows  is  in  the  general  disposition. 
Some  are  evenly  balanced,  some  very  easily  upset  and 
excitable,  some  so  extraordinarily  placid  that  you  won¬ 
der  if  they  are  ever  moved  to  anger,  grief,  mirth  or  any 
other  feeling.  Apart  from  this  quickness  or  slowness 
of  emotions  children  differ  in  the  intensity  of  the  emo¬ 
tion  they  feel.  And  as  the  quickly  moved  child  may 
be  either  deeply  or  superficially  affected,  and  the  slow, 


Individuality 


135 


stolid  child  the  same,  that  makes  at  least  four  extreme 
types  of  combination,  with  all  sorts  of  gradations 
in  between.  Further,  there  are  the  brooding,  self-cen¬ 
tered,  suspicious  children,  real  trouble  makers  in  a 
group,  if  indeed  they  ever  manage  to  stay  in  a  group 
at  all.  And  there  are  the  cocksure,  happy-go-lucky, 
sanguine  children,  always  convinced  they  and  every¬ 
thing  else  will  be  all  right,  never  willing  to  believe 
things  have  turned  out  wrong.  They  are  really  just 
as  self-centered  as  the  last  lot,  but  seldom  get  the  credit 
for  it,  since  they  are  easy  to  get  along  with,  and  win 
their  way  by  sheer  fascination  of  other  people  with 
much  the  charm  of  a  graceful  cat. 

Differences  in  intelligence. — These  have  been  in¬ 
dicated  in  Chapter  III,  where  we  saw  that  our  Juniors 
might  be  anywhere  in  school  grades  from  the  second 
to  the  tenth.  Here  is  a  boy  aged  ten  chronologically, 
barely  eight  mentally,  who  has  attended  school  for 
four  years,  but  still  cannot  do  the  work  of  the  third 
grade.  His  teachers  describe  him  as  stubborn  and  sul¬ 
len,  but  he  plays  games  well.  Here  is  a  girl  aged  ten, 
mentally  nearly  fourteen,  doing  excellent  work  in  the 
seventh  grade.  Both  adults  and  children  find  her 
charming  and  likable.  We  could  easily  pair  cases  more 
extreme  than  these.  The  vocabulary  of  the  duller  chil¬ 
dren  is  small  and  poor,  that  of  the  brighter  ones  is 
always  large,  sometimes  amazingly  so.  While  the 
slower  children  seldom  care  much  for  reading,  and 
then  are  content  with  a  few  simple  stories,  the  quicker 
ones  by  eleven  or  twelve  may  be  found  reading 
Shakspere,  Dickens,  Mark  Twain,  Eugene  Field,  Scott, 


136  A  Study  of  the  Junior  Child 

Irving,  books  of  history,  nature  study,  the  encyclo¬ 
pedia,  and  so  forth.  It  is  interesting  that  in  a  charac¬ 
ter  rating  such  as  was  suggested  in  Fore-Exercise  3, 
made  on  fifty  mentally  superior  children  under  Ter- 
man’s  direction,  the  qualities  that  both  parents  and 
teachers  agreed  on  as  being  conspicuously  present  were 
will  power,  persistence,  dependability,  and  studiousness. 
It  would  be  instructive  to  see  how  fifty  mentally  in¬ 
ferior  children  would  be  rated  on  these  same  qualities. 
Other  evidence  goes  to  show  that  the  more  intelligent 
people  are  also  morally  superior;  but  we  cannot  re¬ 
verse  this  statement  and  say  that  the  best  people  mor¬ 
ally  also  rank  high  intellectually. 

About  one  to  two  out  of  every  hundred  you  teach 
will  be  so  superior  in  intelligence  that  they  stand  a  fair 
chance  of  rising  to  eminence  on  that  score  alone.  But 
whatever  their  diversity,  this  we  know  surely,  that  the 
swindlers,  the  libertines,  the  criminals,  as  well  as  the 
Edisons,  Hoovers,  Sarah  Bernhardts,  Isabel  Hampton 
Robbs  of  to-morrow  are  among  our  Juniors  of  to-day. 
How  soon  and  how  helpfully  can  we  discover  them  ? 

For  Discussion 

Think  of  ten  children  who  are  known  to  all  of  your 
discussion  group.  Arrange  them  in  a  rank  order  for 
each  of  the  qualities  suggested  below,  and  as  many 
more  as  you  might  choose.  Score  the  one  who  pos¬ 
sesses  most  of  the  quality  1,  the  next  2,  the  next  3. 
Score  the  one  who  possesses  least  of  the  quality,  or  who 
is  most  like  the  adjective  after  the  word  “not,”  10,  the 
next  lowest  9,  the  next  8.  Score  the  middle  four  simply 
M.  Arrange  your  ranking  scores  as  shown  in  the  sam¬ 
ple  below.  Here  Amy  is  most  courteous,  Jim  the  least. 


Individuality 


137 


Billy  is  the  most  truthful,  Doris  the  least.  Nora  is 
the  most  cautious,  Mary  the  most  heedless,  and  so  on. 
Look  at  the  characteristics  of  Amy  and  Jean  for  con¬ 
trast,  Billy  and  John.  Would  you  like  Mary?  Frank? 


Courteous,  not 

Amy 

John 

Nora  Frank 

Bob 

Mary 

Jim 

Doris 

Billy  Jean 

rude . 

Truthful,  not 

1 

M 

M 

2 

M 

9 

10 

8 

3 

M 

deceptive. . . . 
Cautious,  not 

3 

9 

M 

M 

8 

M 

M 

10 

1 

2 

heedless . 

Persistent,  not 

M 

M 

1 

2 

8 

10 

M 

M 

3 

9 

vacillating. . . 
Responsible, not 

3 

9 

10 

1 

M 

M 

M 

2 

M 

8 

negligent. .  . . 
Attentive,  not 

3 

M 

8 

1 

M 

10 

M 

M 

2 

9 

careless . 

Independent, 

1 

8 

M 

3 

M 

9 

M 

2 

M 

10 

not  suggestible 
Buoyant,  not 

M 

M 

8 

M 

9 

2 

3 

1 

M 

10 

morose . 

Generous,  not 

2 

9 

8 

M 

M 

3 

10 

M 

M 

1 

stingy . 

Courageous,  not 

3 

M 

10 

9 

M 

1 

8 

M 

2 

M 

timid . 

Pure-minded, 

M 

M 

10 

M 

1 

2 

M 

8 

3 

9 

not  lewd .... 
Even  tempered, 

2 

10 

M 

M 

M 

8 

9 

M 

1 

3 

not  unstable. 

M 

M 

3 

2 

M 

9 

M 

M 

1 

10 

Compare  your  judgment  with  that  of  the  others 
in  the  group. 


CHAPTER  X 


THE  RELIGIOUS  LIFE 
Fore-Exercises 

1.  There  is  some  evidence  to  show  that  between 
eleven  and  twelve,  and  for  a  longer  period  in  the  case 
of  boys,  children  prefer  the  Old  Testament  to  the  New. 
What  facts  presented  in  Chapter  V  might  account  for 
that  ? 

2.  Did  you  ever  invent  a  deity  or  a  worship  ritual 
of  your  own?  If  so,  how  old  were  you?  Have  you 
ever  known  children  to  do  this  ? 

3.  Get  a  piece  of  paper,  and  write  down  the  very 
first  picture  that  comes  to  your  mind  as  you  read  the 
following  phrases.  Do  not  pick  and  choose  among  sev¬ 
eral  interpretations  that  may  come  up,  but  put  down 
something  descriptive  of  the  very  first  idea  that  occurs. 
(Do  not  read  over  these  phrases  before  you  get  that 
paper  and  are  ready  to  write.) 

(a)  She  is  very  religious,  (b)  That  man  is  a  saint 
if  ever  there  was  one.  (c)  He  is  always  interested  in 
religious  matters,  (d)  A  holy  man.  How  far  were 
your  presentations  about  religious  observances,  organ¬ 
izations,  behavior,  creeds  and  doctrines? 

4.  Ask  two  or  three  children,  as  casually  and  in¬ 
formally  as  you  can,  “What  is  a  religious  man  like?” 
and  see  what  answers  you  get. 

5.  See  the  magazine,  Religious  Education,  for  Febru¬ 
ary,  1922,  and  read  carefully  the  Chassell  questionnaire 
there  given. 

Without  debate  the  proposition  is  here  laid  down  that 
religion  is  a  way  of  living.  It  implies  the  unification 

138 


The  Religious  Life 


139 


of  all  tendencies  in  the  light  of  principles  which  prove 
to  be  true.  It  involves  a  conscious  relationship  with  a 
higher  power  and  with  one’s  fellows.  Life,  or  living, 
is  revealed  in  terms  of  behavior,  which  is  determined 
by  the  knowledge  and  feelings  behind  it.  Religious 
life,  then,  must  take  account  of  ideas,  emotions  and 
actions.  Religious  life,  however,  is  not  to  be  identified 
with  ideas  about  theology  and  knowledge  of  the  Bible, 
nor  with  tendencies  to  ecstasy  of  devotion,  nor  with  acts 
universally  recognized  as  having  to  do  with  religion, 
for  instance,  prayer;  fasting,  worship  ceremonial,  se¬ 
clusion  for  meditation,  sacrifice.  Rather,  ideas  must 
be  quickened  into  dynamic  ideals  which  when  formu¬ 
lated  will  serve  to  control  and  direct  the  impulses  to 
conduct. 

We  will  consider  first  some  of  the  emotions  and  ideas 
that  contribute  to  religious  development  in  general,  and 
see  which  of  them  are  natural  to  child  life  under 
twelve.  Later  we  will  take  stock  of  the  traits  promi¬ 
nent  in  the  Junior  age  to  see  which  may  help,  and 
which  may  hinder,  the  most  favored  growth. 

Feelings  and  emotions. — An  emotion  typically 
“religious”  is  that  of  awe  and  reverence,  compounded,  - 
as  some  explain,  of  fear,  wonder,  admiration  and  grati¬ 
tude.  Do  Juniors  experience  this  sort  of  emotion? 
They  do  feel  wonder,  mostly  in  the  form  of  a  curiosity 
which  drives  them  to  investigate  and  explore.  Fear 
they  are  learning  to  despise,  control  or  conceal.  Fear 
of  social  consequences  bulks  largely  in  control  of  be¬ 
havior  by  the  age-group  standards.  Awe  in  the  sense 
of  respect  before  the  mysterious  and  unknown  is  found 


140  A  Study  of  the  Junior  Child 

% 

occasionally,  chiefly  in  the  presence  of  something  over¬ 
whelmingly  big  or  different  in  nature,  such  as  the 
ocean,  tall  trees  in  the  woods,  the  world  revealed  under 
the  microscope,  a  great  conflagration,  the  presence  of 
death.  Respect  and  admiration  are  felt  for  personality 
in  a  concrete  hero  rather  than  for  ideas  or  symbols. 
Children  have  no  difficulty  in  sharing  a  ritual  tribute 
to  some  illustrious  individual,  even  if  it  be  a  solemn 
rather  than  a  jubilant  tribute.  At  festivals  or  other 
special  occasions  their  dramatic  sense,  or  even  their 
love  of  display  may  guarantee  appropriate  conduct. 
Frequently,  however,  we  adults  look  for  evidences  of 
their  being  impressed,  for  respectful  behavior,  for  rev¬ 
erence  and  similar  traits,  and  find  instead  a  careless, 
matter-of-fact  happy-go-lucky  attitude,  if  not  a  spirit 
of  irreverence  and  mischief.  Children  are  volatile, 
with  easily  distracted  attention ;  they  are  very  restive 
physically,  full  of  spirits,  greatly  desirous  of  fun  and 
excitement.  These  competing  tendencies  may  function 
at  the  very  time  we  should  prefer  a  reverent  expres¬ 
sion,  or  at  least  externally  decorous  behavior.  How¬ 
ever,  children  are  quick  to  respond  to  the  contagion  of 
genuine  awe  and  reverence  around  them,  sharing  in 
the  emotion  and  comporting  themselves  in  tune  there¬ 
with  spontaneously  and  easily.  They  also  as  quickly 
detect  the  spuriousness  of  mere  outward  conformity, 
and  rebel  as  spontaneously  by  being  bored,  or  by  dis¬ 
playing  irreverent  deportment.  Gratitude,  the  other 
component  in  reverence,  is  imperfectly  developed.  True, 
the  habit  of  expressing  thanks  may  be  well  formed,  and 
there  may  be  “a  lively  sense  of  favors  to  come,”  as  some 


The  Religious  Life 


141 


one  has  defined  gratitude.  They  may  also  have  been 
taught  to  think  of  God  as  the  Giver,  but  it  is  seldom  that 
these  outwardly  impressed  forms  of  words  have  pene¬ 
trated  to  influence  the  real  emotional  life  of  the  ten-  to 
twelve-year-olds.  They  take  life,  health,  food,  clothes, 
shelter  for  granted.  Some  of  these,  and  their  playthings 
too,  come  obviously  from  near-by  sources,  so  that  God 
as  Giver  is  very  far  removed  from  actual  experience, 
and  to  call  him  so  may  be  considered  a  concession  to 
convention. 

Another  feeling  prominent  in  religious  development 
may  be  described  as  an  unrest,  a  consciousness  of  dual¬ 
ity  in  our  own  nature,  an  opposition,  a  lack  of  harmony, 
an  inadequacy  of  endeavor,  a  sense  of  sin,  of  guilt; 
therefore  there  is  need  of  peace,  of  unification  of  this 
duality,  resolution  of  the  opposition,  a  keynote,  a  sup¬ 
porting  force,  a  Saviour,  a  Redeemer.  Now  it  cannot 
be  said  that  children  are  troubled  by  these  emotional 
problems,  that  they  feel  any  pressing  need  for  adjust¬ 
ment  personally  or  socially,  that  they  are  concerned 
about  their  own  unrighteousness  or  their  souls’  salva¬ 
tion.  It  is  in  the  adolescent  period,  which  is  so  much 
more  subjective  and  personal,  rather  than  in  these 
childhood  years,  that  we  may  look  for  this  phase  of 
development. 

A  third  feeling  contributing  to  religious  growth  is 
that  of  sympathy  with  suffering.  We  have  seen  that 
this  is  present,  more  strongly  in  girls  than  in  boys, 
but  that  it  is  often  hidden  by  the  opposing  tend¬ 
encies  to  be  cruel,  to  tease,  to  manipulate,  to  see  others 
get  excited.  Care  and  responsibility  for  younger  chil- 


142  A  Study  of  the  Junior  Child 

dren  and  animals,  for  helpless,  or  for  old  people  helps 
to  quicken  this  sympathy. 

A  fourth  distinctively  religious  feeling  is  that  of  fel¬ 
lowship.  The  desire  to  belong  is  strengthening  all 
through  this  period,  as  shown  in  the  impulse  to  form 
clubs  and  gangs.  Through  the  experiences  shared  in 
common,  the  motives,  the  interests  felt  by  all,  the  work 
done  together  towards  a  common  goal,  is  developed  the 
capacity  for  being  rooted  and  grounded  in  love,  for 
that  social  sharing  which  marks  the  citizens  of  God’s 
kingdom. 

Two  other  instincts,  those  of  sex  and  the  aesthetic 
interest,  play  no  small  part  in  the  emotional  side  of 
religion.  These  two  are  relatively  weak  at  present  com¬ 
pared  with  what  they  will  be  later  on,  and  weak,  too, 
compared  with  other  instincts  that  are  functioning. 
But  since  girls  are  more  mature  than  boys  after  eleven 
years  old,  we  find  some  of  them  responsive  to  new 
thrills  and  appeals  before  twelve.  We  have  remarked 
that  those  who  are  physiologically  older  are  the  best 
prepared  for  religious  awakenings.  With  even  the 
beginnings  of  the  maturing  processes  there  are  corre¬ 
sponding  changes  in  the  emotional  life.  Thus,  these 
more  advanced  girls  may  feel  a  strange  longing  to  de¬ 
vote  themselves  sacrificially  to  a  cause.  There  follow 
romantic  picturings  of  suffering  martyrdom  as  a  mis¬ 
sionary,  of  becoming  a  nun,  of  being  a  princess  be¬ 
nevolent.  Fancy  revels  in  accessories  of  beautiful 
saintly  faces,  pure  white  robes,  pious  attitudes.  They 
may  even  indulge  in  sentimental  orgies  of  weeping 
over  tales  of  misery,  and  be  intrigued  for  a  time  by 


The  Religious  Life 


143 


books  of  the  goody-goody  order.  Their  inner  being 
perceives  for  the  first  time  the  beautiful  in  architecture, 
in  sculpture,  in  painting.  The  combination  of  unusu¬ 
ally  fine  music,  the  heavy  perfume  of  Easter  flowers, 
the  special  decorations,  the  more  elaborate  ceremonial, 
may  raise  them  to  a  seventh  heaven  of  inward  rapture 
comparable  to  Peter’s  state  of  mind  on  the  Mount  of 
Transfiguration.  Under  such  conditions  they  are 
highly  susceptible  to  suggestion,  a  fact  much  utilized 
by  those  professional  evangelists  who  hold  revival 
services  and  work  with  children.  Some  boys  are  likely 
to  experience  religious  awakenings  in  this  period, 
too.  Of  eighty-four  selected  cases  studied  by  Coe,  fif¬ 
teen  occurred  at  ten,  eleven  or  twelve  years  old.  But, 
as  we  shall  see  later,  these  are  less  often  due  to  emo¬ 
tional  stirrings  than  to  a  growth  in  self-realization. 

Formation  of  ideas. — Let  us  remember  that  we 
are  not  born  with  any  thoughts ;  all  ideas  that  we  pos¬ 
sess  have  been  acquired.  Just  what  ideas  a  child  has, 
then,  will  depend  on  what  he  has  been  taught.  We 
have  very  few  actual  experiments  to  discover  what 
ideas  children  might  obtain  if  no  definite  instruction  is 
given  them.  We  have  numberless  neglected  children 
to  be  sure ;  statistics  show  us  that  in  big  cities  only 
about  one  child  in  four  attens  Sunday  school,  and  we 
can  safely  conclude  that  a  large  proportion  of  children 
receive  no  specific  religious  teaching  at  home.  In  such 
cases  children  pick  up  stray  pieces  of  information, 
oftentimes  very  scanty.  But  of  course  ethical  standards 
are  vaguely  set  up,  and  some  crude  system  of  philos¬ 
ophy  shapes  itself  from  the  time  the  four-year-old 


144  A  Study  of  the  Junior  Child 

questioner  gets  replies  about  origins  and  causes  of 
things.  Curiosity  about  birth  and  death  may  have  led 
to  speculations  about  immortality,  divine  origin  and  so 
on ;  but  as  a  rule  children  between  nine  and  twelve  are 
too  busily  engaged  with  concrete  objects  and  the  press¬ 
ing  nature  of  the  occupations  of  their  social  group  to 
spend  time  in  the  contemplation  of  these  abstract 
themes. 

At  the  other  extreme  from  the  untaught  children  are 
those  who  have  been  much  indoctrinated  from  earliest 
years.  Their  ideas  necessarily  reflect  whatever  teach¬ 
ing  they  have  received.  Thus,  God  may  be  to  them  :  ( 1 ) 
A  Creator,  responsible  for  all  that  exists  in  nature. 
(2)  A  wonderful  magic  Worker  producing  marvels.  (3) 
A  vague  Being  who  demands  certain  inexplicable  con¬ 
ventions  from  us,  who  requires  certain  formulae  to  be 
used  in  approaching  him.  (4)  Some  One  who  must  be 
placated,  sacrificed  to.  (5)  A  Spy,  a  Judge  apt  to  pun¬ 
ish  severely.  (6)  A  benevolent,  rather  old  Person  who 
may  be  persuaded  into  letting  our  desires  come  true. 
(7)  An  unseen  Friend  and  Father  who  will  guide  us. 
His  interests  and  aims  are  worth  discovering  and 
adopting;  he  will  require  work  from  us  to  help  realize 
these  aims.  With  any  of  these  ideas  may  go  a  quite 
unquestioning  faith. 

Here  are  some  “thoughts  about  God”  obtained  ver¬ 
batim  from  fairly  well  instructed  children.  Nine  and 
ten  years :  “He  is  very  good  to  us.”  “He  is  very  won¬ 
derful,  and  helps  us  in  many  ways.”  “He  likes  chil¬ 
dren  to  be  good.”  “He  is  a  very  great  leader.”  “He 
is  kind  to  the  sick  and  poor.”  “He  sits  on  a  throne 


The  Religious  Life 


145 


dressed  in  a  white  robe.”  “He  is  a  holy  spirit  who 
gives  us  love.”  “God  is  liked  by  people  who  are  like 
him.”  “He  likes  people  not  to  lie  or  steal,  and  to  be  good 
and  obey  him.”  Eleven  and  twelve  years  :  “I  see  a  vision 
in  a  white  gown,  sitting  as  a  king  on  a  throne  sur¬ 
rounded  by  angels.”  “He  is  good  and  loving  and  likes 
us  to  be  good.”  “He  has  power  to  heal  and  better  the 
world.”  “He  is  a  protector  who  loves  us.”  “He  wants 
us  to  do  right.”  “He  is  an  old  man  dressed  in  white, 
with  long  flowing  hair,  and  wears  sandals.”  “He  is  a 
great  heavenly  spirit,  and  a  leader  loving  and  kind.” 
“He  helps  you  when  you’re  in  trouble  or  sad.”  Simi¬ 
larly  with  their  ideas  about  Jesus.  Apart  from  creeds 
they  may  have  memorized,  or  stereotyped  phrases  given 
given  them  such  as  our  Shepherd,  our  Saviour,  God’s 
Son,  we  find  that  the  gospel  stories  have  taken  hold  of 
the  imagination.  Most  Juniors  have  a  dual  conception, 
one  of  a  historical  character  who  was  first  a  dear  little 
Baby,  then  a  Man  who  was  good  to  people  and  helped 
them,  loved  children,  and  was  shabbily  treated  by  his 
friends  and  countrymen.  The  other  idea  is  that  of 
Some  One  whose  name  we  use  in  prayer,  sing  about, 
perhaps  pray  to,  who  is  somehow  living  now,  rather 
vaguely  in  a  place  called  heaven,  and  simultaneously, 
and  rather  unintelligibly,  in  our  hearts. 

So  also  with  their  thoughts  about  prayer,  the  Church, 
life  after  death.  There  are  so  many  varieties  of  teach¬ 
ing  to  which  they  may  have  been  exposed,  and  they 
are  naturally  so  reticent  at  this  age,  that  it  is  far  from 
easy  to  discover  what  they  really  do  think.  Besides, 
they  are  not  yet  able  to  coordinate  and  generalize  their 


146  A  Study  of  the  Junior  Child 

thinking,  and  still  less  able  to  express  themselves  sys¬ 
tematically.  When  pressed  for  a  formulation  we  notice 
a  tendency  of  the  eleven-  and  twelve-year-olds  to  be 
wary.  They  preface  their  statements  with  such  phrases 

as  “I  have  been  told  that  maybe  it’s - .”  “They  say 

that - .”  “I  have  heard  that - .”  Their  desire  for 

reality,  their  impatience  with  mere  fairy-tale  elements, 
their  disillusionment  in  many  fields  makes  them  skep¬ 
tical  of  some  things  they  are  told.  Stories  contrary  to 
their  own  proved  experience  may  be  received  with  com¬ 
plete  incredulity.  The  eleven-year-old  girl,  who  on 
reading  John  6:  15-21  remarked,  “I  just  don’t  believe 
that,  it  couldn’t  have  happened,”  is  typical  of  many 
who  have  been  allowed  to  grow  without  any  bias  to 
belief  one  way  or  the  other.  A  more  reflective,  some¬ 
what  older  boy  hesitatingly  opined  that  “some  of  those 
stories  can’t  be  true.  I  guess  that’s  just  how  people  in 
those  times  explained  things,  and  then  they  told  it  a 
lot  of  times  and  it  got  exaggerated.”  Even  a  ten-year- 
old,  consistently  taught  that  God  was  a  loving  Father, 
greeted  the  story  of  Elisha  and  the  bears  with,  “It  can’t 
be  true ;  God  wouldn’t  do  things  like  that,”  showing  a 
critical  faculty  stimulated  by  the  incompatibility  of  the 
ideas  presented. 

Development  of  abstract  ideas. — Probably  you 
found  in  working  through  Fore-Exercise  3  that  your 
first  spontaneous  thoughts  did  not  agree  with  your  bet¬ 
ter  judgment.  Perhaps  you  had  fleeting  glimpses  of 
someone  who  went  to  church  very  often,  or  read  a  great 
many  little  devotional  books,  or  wore  a  seraphic,  other¬ 
worldly  facial  expression,  or  was  prominent  in  several 


The  Religious  Life 


147 


religious  organizations.  Very  likely  these  feelings  and 
ideas  originated  in  some  childhood  concept ;  and  the 
chances  are  that  your  children  to-day  hold  very  similar 
ideas  as  to  what  constitutes  religion  or  the  religious 
life.  What  results  did  you  get  from  Fore-Exercise  4? 

We  must  remember  that  abstract  ideas  are  built  up 
from  separate  concrete  experiences.  Children  associate 
meanings  with  words  according  to  the  special  occasion 
when  they  heard  the  term  used.  Thus,  an  eleven-year- 
old  asked  to  explain  what  “pity”  meant,  said,  “She  lost 
her  pocketbook;  it  was  a  pity.”  Now  if  they  have 
heard  the  word  “religion”  used  only  in  connection  with 
types  of  observances,  with  the  recital  of  creeds  and 
liturgies,  with  going  to  church,  their  idea  of  its  mean¬ 
ing  will  be  limited  to  that  extent.  Abstract  ideas  as 
such  are  but  vaguely  appreciated  even  at  twelve  years 
old ;  and  as  many  of  the  terms  in  the  vocabulary  of 
hymns,  prayers,  and  catechisms  are  abstract,  we  must 
realize  that  children  have  a  very  imperfect  grasp  of 
the  generalizations  they  represent,  a  one-sided,  narrow 
understanding  of  just  such  a  concrete  illustration  as 
has  been  used  in  explanation.  Consider  the  terms  faith, 
grace,  justification ,  sin,  mercy,  holiness,  hallowed,  in¬ 
carnation,  salvation,  atonement ,  redemption,  not  to  men¬ 
tion  doctrines  which  have  been  the  focus  of  controversy 
through  the  centuries.  What  can  children  under 
twelve  make  either  of  these  or  of  the  explanations  the 
theologians  have  formulated?  To  be  sure,  they  obedi¬ 
ently  memorize  a  prescribed  form  of  words,  but  what 
in  the  way  of  ideas  do  they  have  behind  these  words? 
Very  little,  or  else  conceptions  so  amazingly  grotesque 


148  A  Study  of  the  Junior  Child 

that  we  might  prefer  they  had  been  without  any. 
From  any  studies  made  of  the  actual  content  of  the 
minds  of  children  below  twelve  we  may  safely  con¬ 
clude  that  whatever  argument  may  be  adduced  from 
the  churchman’s  wish  to  inoculate  early,  there  is  no 
argument  whatever  from  child  nature  to  warrant  the 
teaching  of  abstract  theological  doctrines. 

Acts  of  religious  observance. — The  list  of  actions 
given  earlier  contains  almost  nothing  that  seems  to  de¬ 
velop  spontaneously  very  far  in  children  of  this  age. 
Untaught  children  do  not  feel  impelled  to  fast,  to  offer 
prayers  and  sacrifices,  and  so  forth.  They  may  organ¬ 
ize  some  outline  of  ritual  appropriate  to  their  group 
activity,  initiations  or  incantations  similar  to  the  count- 
ing-out  rhymes ;  but  even  then  we  cannot  be  sure  there 
is  not  some  element  of  tradition,  some  example  they 
have  read  about  or  observed.  Children  who  have  con¬ 
tact  with  festive  occasions  delight  in  imitating  cere¬ 
monies.  Playing  wedding,  or  preacher,  or  funeral  is 
a  common  amusement  of  the  younger  children.  If  they 
have  attended  Sunday  school  and  church  we  may  find 
dramatizations  of  baptism,  confirmation,  communion, 
but  not  always  without  a  shuddering  question  on  the 
part  of  a  few  as  to  whether  or  not  it  is  impious.  It  is 
not  easy  to  decide  what  is  legitimately  a  game  and  how 
much  is  in  earnest.  Gertrude  and  Isabel,  isolated  in 
convalescence,  decided  to  hold  their  own  worship  serv¬ 
ice.  They  arranged  the  room  to  suit  them,  chose  hymns 
and  Scripture  selections,  sermonized  with  avidity,  but 
were  suddenly  hesitant  when  it  came  to  prayer.  Where 
was  the  line  between  the  pretended  and  the  real  ? 


The  Religious  Life 


149 


Religion  as  life  shown  in  action  they  have  of  course 
shared  from  infancy’s  hour.  But,  as  stated  already, 
very  few  at  this  age  realize  the  need  for  organizing 
life,  for  unifying  dualities,  for  guiding  conduct  con¬ 
sistently  by  ideals. 

Traits  prominent. — Let  us  now  briefly  review 
some  of  the  outstanding  characteristics  of  child  nature 
in  this  Junior  age  which  are  of  significance  for  religious 
training.  Among  those  which  are  distinctly  helpful 
are:  (1)  Their  admiration  for  heroic  characters;  (2) 
their  own  willingness  to  do  and  dare  almost  anything, 
coupled  with  a  restive  energy;  (3)  tender  emotion;  (4) 
beginnings  of  social  groupings  in  which  moral  lessons 
of  prime  importance  are  being  learned,  as  for  instance, 
-loyalty  to  the  leader  and  to  the  group,  the  necessity 
of  sharing,  the  value  of  playing  fair;  (5)  their  clearer 
sense  of  time,  which  is  a  necessary  constituent  in  the 
feeling  of  responsibility,  in  tracing  effects  to  causes ; 
(6)  the  readiness  with  which  they  can  be  trained  in 
deeds  of  service.  Investigation  into  their  ideas  of  right 
and  wrong  shows  that  they  have  found  out,  by  in¬ 
dividual  suffering  and  by  group  experience,  that  it  is 
wrong  to  be  cruel,  to  tell  tales,  to  cheat,  to  shirk  one’s 
share  of  labor.  They  increasingly  feel  group  responsi¬ 
bility  for  mistakes  and  misdeeds,  though  they  object 
strenuously  to  having  the  group  punished  for  the  fault 
of  one  who  does  not  own  up.  They  are  gradually  grow¬ 
ing  away  from  their  earlier  idea  of  punishment  as  mere 
retaliation ;  if  called  on,  however,  to  decide  on  a  form 
of  punishment  they  often  devise  very  neat,  logical  pen¬ 
alties  for  a  misdemeanor,  much  more  severe  than  the 


150  A  Study  of  the  Junior  Child 

adult  counselor  of  the  self-government  group  may  deem 
wise.  They  are  growing  toward  the  idea  of  reasoning 
with  individuals,  of  finding  ways  that  will  be  effective 
in  preventing  a  recurrence  of  the  act. 

Among  the  less  helpful  characteristics  of  the  period 
is  the  strong  individualism,  which  facilitates  habits 
of  selfish  heedlessness.  When  these  habits  combine 
with  their  quick  impulsiveness  and  love  of  excitement, 
we  have  only  too  often  what  works  out  as  disrespectful, 
mischievous,  antisocial  behavior.  Along  with  planning 
to  get  their  own  way  we  find  frequently  a  deliberate 
deception.  This,  coupled  with  the  feeling  that  a  lie  is 
all  right  for  outsiders  though  all  wrong  for  friends, 
and  with  the  thieving,  marauding  exploits  of  many 
gangs,  gives  the  period  a  very  doubtful  reputation  for 
honesty.  Among  the  boys  there  is  an  indecency  of 
language,  an  indulgence  in  low  jokes,  a  love  of  making 
obscene  sketches  or  scrawling  upon  fences  and  walls 
all  sorts  of  filthy  suggestions,  frequently  a  practice  of 
dirty  habits  all  the  more  pernicious  because  it  is  secre¬ 
tive.  Among  the  girls  there  is  an  incredible  vocabulary 
of  spite,  a  tendency  to  tell  tales,  to  be  mean,  to  delight 
in  seeing  another  made  miserably  uncomfortable. 

Conclusions  for  training. — A  few  suggestions  as 
to  religious  training  on  the  basis  of  the  characteristics 
of  the  age  will  be  in  order. 

We  must  work  from  their  everyday  life  of  actions 
and  feelings  rather  than  from  ideas,  symbols  and  ab¬ 
stractions.  We  must  be  practical  rather  than  theo¬ 
retical.  Even  before  concepts  are  well  formulated  the 
actions  and  attitudes  can  be  formed  in  the  right  direc- 


The  Religious  Life 


151 


tion.  A  few  terse  mottoes  will  often  be  appreciated  as 
slogans.  Here  is  a  double  list  which  a  Junior  club 
found  helpful. 


Stick  to  it  until  finished 
Play  fair 
Work  cheerfully 
Share  your  good  times 
Give  up  pleasantly 
Be  respectful 
Let  others’property  alone 
Find  a  way  to  help 
Find  a  way  to  give  pleasure 


No  dawdling 
No  shirking 
No  telltales 

No  dirty  stories  listened 
to  or  repeated 
No  unkind  criticism 
No  whining 

No  teasing  others  until 
they  are  unhappy. 


They  may  be  led  to  think  about  Jesus  as  a  boy,  with 
his  life  of  work,  learning  and  games,  and  to  imagine 
how  he  probably  acted  in  situations  similar  to  those 
which  they  meet  in  their  own  lives. 

They  must  have  opportunities  to  make  choices  and 
exercise  judgment.  Some  simple  form  of  self-govern¬ 
ment  in  the  club  group  is  indicated  for  all  but  the 
youngest  in  the  department. 

Clean,  reverent  sex  knowledge  must  be  given  early 
enough  to  set  up  a  healthy  attitude  and  forestall  the 
soiling  of  the  mind  from  impure  sources. 

Their  sympathies  and  imagination  must  be  aroused 
by  illustrations  of  worth-while,  heroic  characters,  while 
ways  of  imitating  are  tactfully  pointed  out. 

Chances  for  deeds  of  service  must  be  afiforded,  and 
contact  with  widening  groups  assured  until  they  feel 
kinship  with  all  sorts  and  conditions  of  people. 


152  A  Study  of  the  Junior  Child 

Working  out  from  the  sense  of  loyalty,  and  the 
desire  to  belong,  we  may  present,  to  the  eleven-  and 
twelve-year-olds  more  particularly,  the  suggestion  of 
expressing  loyalty  to  Jesus  the  supreme  Hero,  and  of 
belonging  to  the  organized  group  of  disciples  and 
friends  in  the  church. 

For  Discussion 

1.  Illustrate  the  force  of  suggestion  in  moral  train¬ 
ing. 

2.  What  was  wrong  with  the  training  which  led 
children  to  look  upon  Surfday  as  a  day  when  you  could 
not  do  anything  you  liked  ? 

3.  What  moral  problems  do  children  of  Junior  age 
face  ? 

4.  What  definite  thing  has  your  Junior  Department 
done  during  the  year  to  train  children  in  Christian 
living? 

5.  Using  the  Chassell  questionnaire ,  from  Religious 
Education  for  February,  1922,  agree  as  a  group  upon 
a  certain  set  of  answers  you  would  regard  as  right. 
After  having  made  a  survey  of  your  department  by 
using  the  questionnaire  as  suggested,  tabulate  and  score 
the  children’s  answers  as  agreed.  What  sort  of  re¬ 
ligious  conceptions  do  you  find  ? 

6.  What  is  the  value  to  you  of  such  an  exercise  as 
the  above? 

7.  Can  you  find  out  anything  about  the  conditions 
under  which  your  children  pray  spontaneously?  What 
training,  as  well  as  instruction  in  prayer  do  they  re¬ 
ceive?  Which  children  pray  daily?  Do  they  use  set 
forms?  If  not,  what  do  they  pray  about? 

8.  What  have  you  heard  your  children  say  that 
would  show  any  connection  in  their  minds  between 
their  ideas  of  right  and  wrong  and  their  ideas  of  God? 


The  Religious  Life 


153 


9.  Give  instances  of  children’s  judgments  about  con¬ 
duct,  in  themselves  or  in  others. 

10.  Illustrate  the  sort  of  thing  that  stimulates  them 
to  generosity. 

11.  When  have  you  noticed  instances  of  real  self- 
sacrifice?  Of  special  selfishness?  Notice  carefully 
what  stimulates  either,  and  the  social  setting. 

12.  Criticize  the  following  statements : 

(a)  Knowledge  which  has  no  issue  in  conduct  is  bar¬ 
ren,  so  far  as  religion  is  concerned. 

(b)  Children  appreciate  conduct  only  in  concrete  per¬ 
sonality. 

(r)  Good  manners  form  one  of  the  best  introduc¬ 
tions  to  good  citizenship. 

( d )  Moral  knowledge  is  most  meaningful  when  it  is 
gained  as  an  answer  to  actual  problems  in  life. 

( e )  Even  if  children  have  a  religious  impulse  they 
will  not  grow  up  “religious”  without  religious  educa¬ 
tion. 


154 


A  Study  of  the  Junior  Child 
A  GOOD  BIBLIOGRAPHY 


REFERENCES  PARTICULARLY  FOR  THIS  AGE  PERIOD 

Cabot,  Ella  Lyman,  Seven  Ages  of  Childhood. 
Chs.  VIII-XIII. 

Coe,  Geo.  A.,  Education  in  Religion  and  Morals. 
Chs.  XII-XIV. 

Coe,  Geo.  A.,  Social  Theory  of  Religious  Education. 
Part  III. 

Hartshorne,  Hugh,  Childhood  and  Character.  Chs. 
IV,  VII,  XI-XIII. 

Kirkpatrick,  E.  A.,  The  Individual  in  the  Making. 
Ch.  VII. 

Lee,  Joseph,  Play  in  Education.  Chs.  XXV-XLII. 
Norsworthy  and  Whitley,  Psychology  of  Childhood. 
Chs.  Ill,  IV,  VIII,  XIII,  XV. 

GENERAL  DESCRIPTION  OR  SUGGESTIONS  FOR  TRAINING 

Abbott,  E.  H.,  On  the  Training  of  Parents. 

Chenery,  Susan,  As  the  Twig  Is  Bent. 

Du  Bois,  Patterson,  Fireside  Child  Study. 

Fisher,  Dorothy  C.,  Self  Reliance. 

Fisher,  Dorothy  C.,  Mothers  and  Children. 

Forbush,  William  B.,  The  Coming  Generation. 
Forbush,  William  B.,  The  Boy  Problem. 

Forbush,  William  B.,  The  Boy  Problem  in  the 
Church. 

Gruenberg,  Sidonie,  Sons  and  Daughters. 

Howard,  W.  L.,  Start  Your  Child  Right. 

Kirby,  J.  A.,  That  Boy  of  Yours. 

Kirkpatrick,  E.  A.,  Fundamentals  of  Child  Study. 
Kirkpatrick,  E.  A.,  The  Use  of  Money. 

McKeever,  William  A.,  Training  the  Boy. 
McKeever,  William  A.,  Training  the  Girl. 

Puffer,  J.  Adams,  The  Boy  and  His  Gang. 

Tanner,  Amy  E.,  The  Child. 


A  Good  Bibliography 


155 


Terman,  Lewis  M.,  The  Hygiene  of  the  School 
Child. 

Wile,  Ira  S.,  Sex  Education. 

Wood-Alien,  Mary,  Making  the  Best  of  Our  Chil¬ 
dren. 

FICTION  THAT  WILL  PROVE  HELPFUL 

Joseph  Anthony,  The  Gang. 

Walter  Dyer,  The  Dogs  of  Boytown. 

William  D.  Howells,  A  Boy’s  Town. 

Lucy  Montgomery,  Anne  of  Green  Gables. 

Booth  Tarkington,  Penrod. 

Charles  D.  Warner,  Being  a  Boy. 

Kate  D.  Wiggin,  Rebecca  of  Sunnybrook  Farm. 


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